If You're Not The One
by Athena13
Summary: Scrubs. Starts after Patrick makes Robin apologize to him in front of Carly. Robin and Patrick continue to fumble their way to each other in a hospitalcentric drama.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I needed to write some angst. The title of this story is from Daniel Bedingfield's "If You're Not the One" – which Sean and Belle happened to be dancing to on DOOL tonight as I wrote this. I don't even regularly watch the show or particularly want Sean and Belle together (she's a basket case; and that's not Austin, creepy), but the song just fit what I already had in mind. This starts after the apology, and then I change it up a lot, then not so much. This was supposed to be a short one-shot. But you know how that goes with me. Could be two parts. Might take on a life of its own. I am not abandoning Meddling. But they won't stay happy in that story if I can't write this. Thanks to Megasites for the transcripts.

Disclaimer: Not only did I steal your characters ABCD, I stole actual dialogue from the show. Cost-benefit analysis says you should hire me, not sue me.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_I don't want to run away but I can't take it, I don't understand  
If I'm not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am?  
Is there any way that I can stay in your arms?_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Hi, Robin." Dr. Alan Quatermaine was surprised to see Robin back hours after her shift ended, especially since he had heard the gossip that she was having dinner tonight with Dr. Patrick Drake. It must not, he surmised watching her slam binders around, have gone well.

At the sound of Alan's greeting she whirled around. "This is all your fault!" She shouted, even as some small part of her mind knew she was being very unprofessional.

"Well, I'm sure that's true. What did he do?" Monica couldn't resist the opportunity to jab one at her husband.

"As Chief of Staff, shouldn't you have made some rule that forbids staff members from dating each other?" Why had this not occurred to her before? If there was a rule she had to abide by none of this would have happened and it wasn't too late to convince Alan to implement one.

"Imagine, all the pain that would've saved us, huh?" Monica chimed in.

"Well, it's not too late for me. Please, stop me before I do something really stupid like give in or give up. I mean, Dr. Patrick Drake -- he's the most pompous, arrogant -- the fact that I was even tempted -- I mean, I really should have my head examined!" Before she could say another word she heard his voice from behind.

"Excuse me, Dr. Scorpio? Have you seen the Conway files?" His deep, low, sexy voice.

Robin froze. She blinked and slowly turned around hoping it had been a trick of the mind. No such luck. She looked blindly down at the counter. A file, he just wants a file, she sifted through them to find the one he asked for right there in the middle of the counter where he must have seen it. "Um, here." She turned away and tried to calm herself down. Hoped for a big gaping hole to suck her away. Or him.

"So go ahead, ask me."

"Ask you what?" Instead of relieved that he has his bantering voice in play she just feels tired.

"If I slept with Carly."

At those words Robin froze. She looked at Patrick, really looked at him, heard him. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, and then she looked up at him and said the four words that made men's balls shrivel in every language. "We need to talk."

"About what exactly?" Patrick said suggestively as he leaned in on the counter.

Or maybe it was just men who'd actually had a relationship before.

"About us."

"I wasn't aware there was an 'us'" Patrick put the Conway file back down on the counter and looked at Robin with raised eyebrows. He really thought again that she was too serious for her own good and that it was his personal mission to shake up her ordered world. What he intended to get out of it he didn't know, he just knew he liked doing it. He wasn't aware that it was part power trip, part third grade boy getting the pretty girl's attention.

"I still owe you a meal and there are some things I want to say, without an audience." Robin pressed a hand to her stomach under the counter where he couldn't see it. "How about the cafeteria or Kelly's?"

"Not your place?" Patrick asked, but his attempt at sounding cocky fell flat even to his ears. "Cafeteria. Should be empty enough." He sighed. He had a feeling he was not going to enjoy this.

>>>>>>  
GH Cafeteria; corner table by window  
>>>>>>

"Not exactly the home cooking I was looking forward to." Patrick bit into his dry turkey sandwich.

"Actually, it reminds me of my mother's cooking." Robin chuckled looking down at what purported to be a salad with grilled chicken. It looked more like, well, she felt nauseous enough that she didn't need to finish that thought.

"Did your mother teach you to cook? Maybe I did get lucky tonight after all?"

Robin looked up and studied Patrick. After everything she had done and said to him tonight and he was joking about it. Rather than feeling relieved she felt even worse.

"You clearly have something to say, go ahead." Patrick caught and held her gaze.

"Tonight you came over expecting a nice dinner and what you got was an ambush. A wholly undeserved one." Robin looked down at her hands which were clasped in her lap for a moment. "I'm not a cruel person by nature, Patrick. What I did to you tonight was cruel. I don't like myself very much tonight."

"I understand, Robin, you thought you heard…"

"That's no excuse. You're right, I didn't ask you what you were talking about I just assumed the worst. My instincts were telling me this was a bad idea so I grabbed on to that call and used it. I had no reason to think you would do that to me. I am deeply sorry for everything that I said you, Patrick. You didn't deserve the things I said." Others did, but not Patrick Drake.

"You already apologized tonight, remember that growing experience?" Patrick smiled, happy to hear her heartfelt apology again, though he didn't deem it necessary.

"Yes, I remember very clearly that you made me air our private matter in front of Carly. I can't say that I didn't deserve it, but it did open my eyes. I shouldn't be involved with anyone that I have to ask whether they've slept with Carly. I won't be." Robin bit her tongue to stop herself from saying more. From ranting and raving again about what the hell was she thinking!

"I never slept with her, I told you that and I hardly had time tonight to do it." Patrick shrugged, not understanding.

"I don't think you know the history, but the fact that you're using a woman who threw my HIV status in my face in front of you to get my attention…" Robin broke off again and blew out a breath and shook her head. She wasn't sure she could say what she wanted to say without sounding, as he would call it, lecturing and condescending. "We want and need different things. I can't be who you want me to be and you can't or won't give me what I need."

"Barely two dates and you want to talk about marriage." Patrick looked at her like she was crazy.

"I need committed, monogamous relationship that involves respect and communication. You want to do date who you want when you want and get what you term payoff."

"Then maybe you're right." Patrick's face was hard, his eyes dark and brooding as he looked at Robin. "We won't work if tonight is your version of _communication_, it's really the last thing you should be lecturing me on," he hissed.

"I'm not perfect, Patrick, I never pretended to be. I'm flawed, guarded, serious a lot of the time and I don't like who I become around you. I don't like that I lose control, that I don't think, I'm uncomfortable, that I….this! This!" Robin threw her hands up in the air and glared at him. She hated most of all that she wasn't cool, calm and composed and sounding like a scholar.

"Alive! I make you feel alive. And it scares you to death." Patrick crossed his arms and looked at her smugly finally feeling like he had the upper hand. All this because he wanted a home cooked meal?

"And you're just after a good time." Robin's eyes were wet as she looked at Patrick.

The words were a punch in the gut to Patrick, as was the vulnerability in Robin's eyes. That was what he wanted, wasn't it? To date who he wanted when he wanted. To have fun. Then why was his heart racing?

"What now?" he asked quietly.

"We go back to being just friends and colleagues."

"And what I euphemistically call flirting ends tonight." Patrick's face and voice were flat. Grim.

"Yes." Robin's hands were clenched in her lap. She knew this was the right thing to do. So why did it feel like she was breaking her own heart? No. She needed to remember why she was doing this. He was immature. He was involved with Carly. She would not live through that again.

"I'm not hungry for this after all." Patrick lifted his tray, didn't move for a moment, then stood up and walked away.

>>>>>>>>>>   
_If you're not for me then why does this distance maim my life?_  
>>>>>>


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I just realized that this is the first Scrubsfic that I've written in the third person all by myself and that I've actually gotten into the habit of writing Patrick and Robin in the first person. Like you care. Just remember folks that this _is_ a soap opera…

This is a short one. More later.

>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 2  
>>>>>>>   
_If you are not mine then why does your heart return my call  
If you are not mine would I have the strength to stand at all_  
>>>>>>

It was a rough night and she felt bad for how she had behaved. That's why, she reasoned, her throat was coated with tears long after Patrick had left her sitting alone in the cafeteria. And she had meant it when she said she wanted to be Patrick's friend, especially with Noah's health declining, but she didn't think that Patrick was going to be very receptive. She wasn't looking forward to tomorrow.

"Robin, are you all right?"

Robin blinked back some lingering tears before she looked up at Nikolas. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Robin asked wryly.

"I'm not the one who looks like they're going to cry over their…is that salad?" Nikolas sat down in the seat that Patrick had vacated. "What did that Drake guy do to you?"

"Patrick?" Robin asked, surprised that Nikolas would even mention him.

"I saw him storming out of here when I walked in. Then I saw you sitting looking so sad in the corner. So tell me how the bastard hurt you and I'll hire goons to beat him up."

"Nikolas!" Robin laughed in surprise. "Patrick didn't do anything to me. We've gone out a couple of times, but I realized tonight that it's just not going to work out and told him so."

"And you're sad because…?" Nikolas prompted.

"It was nice to have someone interested and now there isn't anyone." She had just worked that one out on the fly and she thought it sounded good. Logical. So what if it didn't exactly resonate with truth in her gut? It didn't change how things had to be. "What are you doing here so late?" Robin asked, determinedly changed the subject.

"I came by to try and see if I could get in to see John." Nikolas sighed. "They're still keeping me out, thanks to your Dr. Drake and your friend Jax."

"I'm so sorry. I know how difficult this must be for you." Robin was proud she didn't visibly flinch when Nikolas called him "your Dr. Drake." And she wasn't going to discuss Jax and what, or who, he was doing these days. Grief did strange things to people. And so did Carly.

"You do, don't you?" Nikolas squeezed her hands. "I never thought I could love a baby that's not even mine so much."

Robin was surprised by a fresh flood of tears to her eyes. She laughed and shook her head as a couple got loose down her cheeks. "I don't know what's wrong with me tonight," she said at Nikolas' look of concern.

Nikolas knew very well the tears were for Michael and that she was more upset about Dr. Drake than she was willing to admit. He doubted anyone ever saw her looking so sad, she was good at faking it. He wanted to do something to make her feel better and it felt good to focus on someone other than himself for a change. He'd always had a soft spot for Robin and he wondered, idly, in the back of his mind, how different things would have been for both of them had she not gone back to Jason and given him a bona fide shot all those years ago. "You know what we need?" He leaned forward, excited by the idea that just came to him.

"What?" Robin took her hands back and wiped her cheeks.

"A waltz."

"Here?" Robin let out a surprised bark of laughter.

"Well, we could, but I was thinking tomorrow night at the Haunted Star. What say you and me, fancy dress and some gambling and dancing?"

Robin considered the invitation. A night out with a friend was just what she needed, she decided. "I'd love to. It'll be fun."

"Then it's a date. Are you still working? Then I'll walk you home," he declared when she shook her head.

"You don't have to do that. I only live a few blocks away."

"This might not be Paris, but it's still not a good idea for a beautiful, young woman like yourself to walk home alone. I insist."

Robin smiled at Nikolas fondly. Just when she was starting to wonder why she was back in Port Charles, an old friend always came along and reminded her.

>>>>>>

On their way out Nikolas walked Robin to the Doctor's Lounge where she retrieved her coat. Neither was aware of Patrick watching Nikolas help her on with her coat outside the Lounge or his frown when he saw Nikolas putting his hand on Robin's lower back as he guided her into the elevator.

Neither knew that the image haunted Patrick for the rest of the evening or that he had never experienced anything like that before and didn't really understand it or like it.

>>>>>>

Once the apartment door was closed behind Nikolas she locked it and looked over at the garbage can, a pained expression on her face.

As she and Nikolas had stood near the door and he had extracted another promise that she would accompany him tomorrow night she had been thankful that he had not asked about the flowers that he had obviously seen in the garbage and whose delicate scent was filling the apartment.

With a regretful pang she bent down and rescued the flowers. Still crouching, she closed her eyes and breathed them in. The flowers fit her and her new apartment perfectly and she couldn't help but wonder if he had lingered over the choice or if they were just something he grabbed in haste. She hoped it was the latter. The image of him making the effort made her feel even worse for how she acted tonight. It had been like a train wreck, which she should know since she'd recently been in one. She could see the crash coming, feel her body propelled by the inertia, but she couldn't stop the mean things coming out of her mouth. She had a very strong feeling then and now that the things she said hurt him deeply and while he seemed to have forgiven and forgotten already, she still felt horrible for hurting him.

"That's why this is for the best," she reminded herself and then reminded herself again for all the reasons why wanting anything more than friendship with the man was a bad idea.

With a pain in her chest she stood up and took the flowers into the kitchen to find the glass vase she had just put away the day before.

>>>>>>>   
_If I don't need you then why am I crying on my bed?  
If I don't need you then why does your name resound in my head?_  
>>>>>>>


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Another bit…I have 2 more parts in my head ready to pour out. After that it gets a bit dicey on where this goes. FYI, Tina Dico is a singer who sings "My Mirror" - a great song they played for another of my ships (Ann and Danny on Related) and I thought had an interesting fit for Scrubs. All lyrics quoted are still from Daniel Bedingfield's song that inspired the title to this story.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One – 3  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_I never know what the future brings  
But I know you are here with me now_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Patrick approached the Nurses' Station reluctantly. He had been there for hours, coming in early after an intense work out and he thought he was mentally prepared to see Robin when the time came, but seeing her standing there reviewing a file he had an annoying feeling of unease.

Unease, though, he could live with, it even made sense. It was better than say, nervousness or anger, both of which would have meant he was overreacting since he knew that for once Robin was right, their goals didn't mesh. He was out for a good time and she was an overly serious person looking for more than he was willing to give. The only thing that gave him some momentary pause was the acknowledgement that he knew this all along and still pursued her, but he was easily able to ascribe this to her being a challenge and a novelty as he rarely met attractive women he considered close to being his professional and intellectual equal. It made sense he'd spend some time in a new place exploring that. Kind of like a kid with a new toy.

And if he wondered for even a moment at the significant decrease in his sexual activity since he moved to Port Charles, he ruthlessly shoved the thought away with vague explanations of dealing with his not-sober-sober-dying father and re-establishing his career at a new hospital. It had nothing to do with his unusual preoccupation with Robin Scorpio.

It was all very logical to him which was why he had no problem, other than an understandable unease at her reaction would be, to walk up and greet her in a professional, yet friendly manner. Just like he had practiced in his head.

"Good morning, Dr. Scorpio." He took the messages the nurse handed him and leaned against the counter across from her. If he felt the momentary urge to flirt, that was just habit.

"Hi," she said absently, not looking up from her file.

After how hard he worked to be friendly to her, now she was going to ignore him? His head jerked up in righteous indignation. She slags him off before basically dumping him, even though they weren't even together, and then walked off with the Prince of Darkness and now she was ignoring him!

"I thought we were going to be friends." Damn! He hadn't meant to make the last word sound like a curse. He had meant to be causal and just let her know the he knew that she was the one behaving badly. He straightened up and pretended to be absorbed in his messages and hoped she was too intent on what he assumed was her ignoring him to have noticed.

Patrick was partially lucky. Robin had very clearly heard the venom in his voice, but unlike him she wasn't surprised by it and didn't wonder about its cause. She had expected it would take some time before Patrick's ego was suitably soothed enough to act professional and friendly, well as friendly as they ever got, with her again. She was determined, though, to forge on through it and keep her cool. One of them had to be the adult. It was an obvious choice from her perspective.

"I just noticed something in the Dico file. Look at this." She slid the file across the counter and pointed to an entry, her notes next to his.

Surprised, Patrick's eyes flickered to her face and then down to the file. As he read what she was pointing out, his mind processed that she looked completely calm and unflustered. Not like she was angry and ignoring him at all. He should be relieved, he knew, but he wasn't.

"I want to take another look at the MRI's. Do you want to come?" she asked.

"Yeah." He shoved the messages into his pocket and picked up the file and followed behind her, unaware that his face looked to be in as much turmoil as it had looked the moment that his father had mentioned the danger of the virus to the hospital staff at the beginning of the epidemic.

They walked into the small room and he handed her the MRI's and she put them up on the light board while he turned out the light.

The light shone like moonlight on her face. The unusually poetic thought threw Patrick for a moment and ticked him off further. Why should he have to deal with this in order to do his job?

"It's definitely smaller, but just on the one side." Robin pointed to the tumor they had been treating. Well, she had been treating with some new drug she had invented and recently gotten FDA approval to try. He was stuck waiting and lobbying for surgery, although he didn't mind handling crisis situations. He excelled at them.

"It still needs surgery." He shrugged and fidgeted impatiently.

"_Her_ tumor is shrinking, which is exactly what I hoped for with this treatment."

"On one side, it's still too dangerously close to her motor skills area," he pointed out, his fingers itching to get this surgery underway. This was what he did and he did it brilliantly and he was getting extremely tired of her getting in the way with her drugs and coddling of the patient. She coddled everyone but him, he thought resentfully.

"And given the rate of growth that's not going to change dramatically in the next two weeks, unless it's for the better. I'm going to see what I can do about changing the dosing, see if that helps."

"So _she_ will lie in the hospital bed for another two weeks waiting for surgery while you play witch doctor with your potions. She needs brain surgery so just get the hell out of my way already."

It wasn't the words that surprised her; they'd had this debate countless times since being thrown together for consults. It was the tone of his voice that felt like a smack in the face. She had thought he had some modicum respect for her work by now. Yet another reason why anything more than a professional relationship wouldn't work as far as she was concerned.

"Surgery isn't always the answer. Most people don't like having their body cut open as much as you like doing it. Their convalescence doesn't end at the OR doors, Dr. Drake." She stiffened her back and ordered herself to remain calm. He can only push your buttons if you let him.

"If I have to hear another lecture about my bedside manner my head is going to explode. Why don't you go back to the lab and invent things for lesser doctors to use. I don't need them."

"Well," Robin snapped as she began taking down the MRI's with jerky, angry motions. "It's a good thing that it's the patient that gets to decide what kind of care they want and not you. Unless you're planning to make another bet about whether you can convince this patient to…." Robin broke off and stamped in fury, this time at herself. She swore she wasn't going to let his expected temper tantrums get to her. She had, she admitted, seriously miscalculated; she just wasn't sure what was missing from her equation. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." Her voice was contrite and weary.

Rather than being upset, though, Patrick suddenly felt a lot better. Like he often did when he managed to get under her skin, even though he wasn't supposed to want to be there anymore. "Let's call it even and go talk to our patient." He took the MRI's from her unresisting fingers and put them back into their folder and smiled at her.

Robin looked at him, blinked and tried to figure out what the hell was going through his mind.

>>>>>>>>

Hours later Robin and Patrick were standing once again at the Nurse's station.

Nurse Epiphany was behind them working and enjoying the floor show these two always provided. Each was pretending to be engrossed in the files that they were writing in, but whenever the other wasn't looking they would glance at the other. Another few days of this and Epiphany was going to lock them in a supply closet for a few hours and see what happened. Courtesy of the video camera she was going to plant. She ginned evilly as she contemplated the fortune she could make selling downloads on the Internet.

"What's your position on friends spending time together, Dr. Scorpio?"

Wary, Robin looked up from her file to find Patrick looking at her very intently. "In general it's what friends do." She bit her tongue before she could ask "why." The spat they'd had that morning had been the last of the day and Patrick had been very respectful of the drug option when they met with Tina Dico. Whenever they crossed paths for the rest of the day it had been unnervingly peaceful.

"I need a change of pace and there's a party tonight. Come with me. As friends." He hadn't intended to ask her, but it seemed like a good idea now that they were getting along and he hadn't time to ask anyone else.

"I think that your instinct that friends might do something like that is a good one because I already happen to be going to the party tonight with a friend. But thank you." She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, curious about his reaction.

"Oh really, which friend?" Patrick pretended idle curiosity, when he in fact felt stung by the rejection.

"Nikolas Cassadine."

"Then I'll see you there." Patrick closed his file with a snap and put it down on the counter a bit harder than he had intended. His gaze snapped to the nurse whose name he couldn't remember standing nearby because he could swear he had heard her snigger. He expected her to pretend she wasn't listening in, but she was just looking at him, unblinking. He found it as irritating as he did unsettling. He looked back at Robin who was also watching him, an undecipherable expression on her face, which also irritated and unsettled him. He searched his mind for something amusing to say and came up blank.

Just then Dr. Kelly Lee walked in between them and he grabbed on to her presence like a lifeline. "Dr. Lee, would you like to go to a party with me tonight?" He gave her his most charming smile, turning his head to make sure she could see his dimple on his favored profile.

"What's the occasion?" she looked at him with avid interest.

"It's a gala for the reopening of Luke Spencer's casino, The Haunted Star."

"A casino? Count me in -- I love to gamble." She gave him an unmistakably seductive smile, which settled Patrick's nerves considerably as he slipped into a comfort zone.

"Great, so do I. It's black tie, but I'm sure a cocktail dress will do. "He smiled, winked and then walked away, his steps once again light.

Dr. Lee looked at Robin who was not trying to hide the fact that she was listening in. She knew that there was something going on with the two doctors and she figured that she had just been asked right in front of Dr. Scorpio as some sort of power play, but she didn't particularly care. Patrick Drake was hot and she intended to have a good time tonight.

Robin shook her head, bemused as Dr. Lee walked away and then looked at Nurse Epiphany who had been just was obviously attentive.

"Honey, don't look at me," Epiphany snorted and turned back to the computer.

A few more days everything will be normal again, Robin told herself. Whatever normal was.

>>>>>>>>  
_I don't want to run away but I can't take it, I don't understand  
If I'm not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am_  
>>>>>>>>


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: The story is pretty darn simplistic, isn't it! Why can't TIIC figure out that this is what women want to watch? Not shoot outs in church on Good Friday and dying babies?

Thanks for the excellent feedback! Considering how rushed this story is, I'm so excited that you all seem to like it! I have another part almost ready after this.

I think Soily is a gross example of mid-life crisis, but since I hate Emily I'm going with it in here. I'm just so happy Nikolas is free of that self-centered whiner. Maybe Sonny will don a "wife beater" and treat her like he does all his bitches, er, I mean women. That was freakin' hilarious yesterday, first time I've liked Blinky in years. Hmmm, since he and Emily aren't related by blood….two birds, one bullet….

BTW, this is what you get when you're snotty to my girl Robin! Dr. Lee, I mean you.

>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 4  
>>>>>>>>>>>   
_If I don't need you then why does your name resound in my head?  
If you're not for me then why does this distance maim my life?_  
>>>>>>>>>>>

He was edgy. He was not supposed to be edgy, that's why he was at a party in the first place.

Patrick Drake was standing at the bar watching Dr. Lee, Kelly, down her third champagne, while he nursed his first and tried to make small talk. He wasn't waiting for Robin to show up, he told himself. That he kept looking towards the door was just because he was interested in seeing who arrived, like people who could advance his career and hot women. Especially the hot women as there was certainly no need to limit himself to just one. Particularly since he wasn't sure this one would be sober much longer. With an internal groan he smiled down at his date.

"Is it just me, or is this room loaded with intrigue tonight?" Kelly smiled flirtatiously up at Patrick, the glass in her hand already empty.

"Well, it's human nature. We're all gamblers." Patrick threw out the line and accompanying smile without a thought. Romantic patter came naturally, but it wasn't do its job and distracting him from wondering when Robin was going to show up. Neither was his two sheets to the wind date.

"Is that why you invited me to this party when you really wanted to be with Robin?"

At the mention of Robin's name and the implication, Patrick stiffened, frowned. "I go out with who I want, when I want. Robin has nothing to do with it." He wasn't pleased that his date seemed to have his father's drinking habits or that she would mention Robin to him when he was trying to have a good time.

"The doctor doth protest too much. You're seriously hung up on her." Kelly countered, determined to either find out if that was true and she really had no shot at snagging this hottie or to goad him into paying more attention to her and maybe into her bed.

"I think the champagne's clouding your perception," Patrick snapped.

"You misunderstand. I'm glad you asked me out, and I plan to enjoy myself." Kelly wondered if she should dare touch him. He was so gorgeous, he took her breath away.

"A woman after my own heart." So what if she was drinking a little too much, it was a party. He was about to invite her to go play roulette when a shimmer of silver caught the corner of his eyes and his head turned.

"Oh, I don't believe this," Kelly murmured uselessly at his side.

The world stopped spinning.

Standing in the entranceway greeting Luke Spencer and his wife was Robin Scorpio looking stunning. She was wearing an ice blue gown held up by thin straps and that caressed her body all the way down to the floor. And a smile. A carefree, bright smile.

She shimmered.

That her hair was pulled back and her skin looked so soft as to be suede like it did that day in the hospital after the antidote took hold was just a secondary detail he took in as his eyes swept over her. That her eyes were creamed with the same color was her dress so that her eyes looked dark and mysterious was icing on the cake as far as he was concerned.

And then he fell from the great height when Luke moved aside and he saw Nikolas Cassadine with his hand resting, once again, on Robin's back.

With a shrug Kelly Lee turned back to the bar and ordered another drink, this time a shot of tequila. She had nothing else to keep her warm tonight.

Robin felt a ripple of heat over her bare shoulders and turned her head to find Patrick Drake staring at her. He looked stunned, standing there clenching the half-empty glass of champagne in his hand as he openly stared at her. She allowed herself a moment of pure feminine satisfaction as she drank him in in return. He looked, she admitted, devastatingly attractive. She reluctantly looked away.

"He's seriously jealous of me being at your side."

"Patrick Drake doesn't do jealousy," Robin scoffed, wishing it was true and wishing that she didn't wish that.

"Maybe not before he saw you looking so gorgeous on the arm of a handsome prince." Nikolas leaned in and whispered in her ear, keeping his eyes on the Drake guy glaring at them and getting a big kick out of it.

Robin turned and looked back at Patrick. Whatever he was feeling and Robin wouldn't go so far as to call it jealousy, she was surprised that he didn't look away, but held her gaze quite confidently. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized what two things she had failed to factor into her neat little formula on how to deal with Patrick Drake. One was that she couldn't turn off her feelings for him no matter how much she wanted to. Number two was that she couldn't control Patrick Drake. He was and always had been a wild card and she was as attracted to that about him as she was scared by it.

"You like it don't you?" Nikolas chuckled.

Robin laughed at how easy her old friend was reading her and turned and smiled up at him.

Seeing Robin's easy interaction to the man at her side, a man who was not him, Patrick felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He wasn't supposed to be feeling anything other than a distant appreciation for female beauty; maybe a general kind of…of….warmth at seeing a friend and colleague. This was a closed road and he wasn't going down it anymore.

He forced himself to look away from Robin and Nikolas making their way into the room and found his date downing her second, or was that third, shot of tequila. With an aggravated sigh he walked over to the bar to see if he could salvage this evening. As he exchanged inanities with the inebriated doctor his gaze wandered back over towards the other side of the room.

"There's Liz and Lucky, let's go say hello." Nikolas put his arm around Robin's shoulders and led her down the stairs. "I've decided I'm going to help you, Scorpio."

"Help me what?" Robin asked.

"Catch a neurosurgeon."

"No.' Robin stopped, grabbing his arm. "No. I told you that he and I agreed we won't work. We want different…If you want to help just distract me. I'll get over this, him, soon enough."

"Ri-i-ght." Nikolas looked at her dubiously, but decided to play along. "Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight? I didn't think it was possible, but you've gotten even more beautiful over the years." He brushed a stray hair off her face. He was very conscious of Patrick Drake's fulminating glare, but he was also aware of a slight stirring of old feelings. It wasn't going to be a hardship to play this however Robin preferred.

"Thank you." Robin's eyes were filled with gratitude as she looked up at him. "You always manage to say the right thing at the right time."

"Just returning the favor, old friend." Nikolas felt an unexpected urge to kiss her. He grinned and held his elbow out. He hadn't felt this good in years. "Come on, we're old hats at this escort thing."

"Like when you came with me to Mac and Felicia's wedding?" She agreed and slipped her arm through his.

"Among other times," Nikolas agreed amiably.

>>>>>>>

"I wanted to tell you that you look gorgeous in that dress, Liz. And that is a seriously gorgeous dress. Once again you prove that you've outgrown squirming in your dresses." Robin smiled, recalling the conversation that they had at Nikolas' eighteenth birthday party almost eight years before.

"That's true," Emily said, also remembering that discussion and looking around for Lulu who had inspired it in the first place. So what if her gaze also happened to land on Sonny? No one would notice anything strange about that. Then she caught Jason staring blankly at her and she turned away swiftly and took a sip of her champagne.

"Thank you." Liz beamed in pleasure at her girlfriends. They were standing in a close group chatting while the men – Nikolas and Lucky were talking with Luke. "You look beautiful too, both of you. Did you get that dress in Paris, Robin?"

"Brenda got me this dress in Paris. It's a designer original if you can believe it. She was attending the shows for her boutique and insisted I have it. I haven't worn it before, never had a reason."

"It's perfect. Brenda always did have good taste. In clothes." Liz shot her friend Emily a look. Liz had a feeling that Emily was still hung up on Sonny and she wasn't so sure it was over despite her protestations to that effect. If things didn't change soon she was going to fail out of medical school, but there was no talking to her and Liz saw her wishes for an Emily and Nikolas reunion slipping down the drain. She had seen something, however, in how Nikolas was looking at Robin tonight and her mind was heading in another direction, as back up.

Although, she glanced over her shoulder, Patrick Drake seemed to still be seriously interested despite what Robin had told her they had agreed to last night.

Patrick Drake was having similar thoughts about Nikolas and Robin and they were consuming his thoughts even as he tried to score with the lovely blond he had befriended at the blackjack table. His previous date, Dr. Kelly Lee had long ago passed the point of polite intoxication and as discreetly as he could – after she had already taken a spill and lost the top of her dress - had taken her home and come back alone intent on having a good time at his first Port Charles social event.

Since his return he had dabbled at the gaming tables, met some new people, touched base with some fellow doctors, met their wives or husbands and scoped out the hot women who, unlike one Dr. Robin Scorpio, welcomed his advances and wanted nothing more than to briefly enjoy his company.

Along the way during the evening he had learned a lot of interesting things about Port Charles history.

Like Ric Lansing was actually a half brother of Sonny Corinthos and that Robin had performed an emergency C-section on Alexis and delivered and saved her and Ric's baby Molly during the train wreck.

From Alan Quatermaine, his boss, he learned how every year the hospital put on a Nurse's Ball to raise money to support AIDS research and the General Hospital AIDS wing that was named in honor of Robin's boyfriend Stone; and that since she had returned to Port Charles everyone was thrilled to have Robin back helping with the event and they were hoping to have her speak at this year's event like she had years ago. Her speech back then had, according to Monica, moved everyone to tears and wallets and checkbooks snapped open for the cause.

And he was just leaning that she could waltz.

"The waltz I promised you." Nikolas held out his hand and led a willing Robin out onto the dance floor. "Remember when we waltzed together at a Bacchanalia at Wyndemere?" He asked as they got into position.

"Katherine was dancing with Stefan," Robin murmured as they fit their bodies together. Nikolas, her dear friend, also had a lot of loss in his life. Maybe that was why they had always had a deep understanding of each other?

Patrick didn't bother to pretend not to be spellbound as he watched Nikolas and Robin move across the floor in a dance that had at one time been banned in polite society. The blonde he was talking to shrugged and walked away.

"Do you know how to waltz?" Carly sidled up to Patrick.

"Yes. My mother made sure I had the appropriate dance lessons. Won't you boyfriend and your ex-husband be upset to see you talking to me?"

"No one tells me what to do and you looked like you need rescuing."

"From what?" Patrick dragged his gaze away from the dance floor.

"Standing there panting after wittle wobin. What's wrong, Ms. Holier Than Thou actually has the gall to be mad at you for making her grovel in front of me?" Carly smirked over at the dancers and back at Patrick. "Really, Patrick. You can do so much better."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Patrick took a sip of his water and glanced back at the dance floor. "Robin and I are just colleagues."

"I can tell that's why you're sweating watching her dance with a man who happens to be a rich prince and used to be in love with her. Oh, you didn't know about that!" Carly laughed when Patrick's eyes flickered in surprise. "Oh yeah, he was all about her when he was just a kid, like eighteen. But she chose to go back to Jason. I bet he wouldn't mind fulfilling adolescent fantasies now."

"He's grieving for his fiancé who just died."

"How do you handle grief, Dr. Drake?" Carly taunted, and then she relented. "I'm not a big fan, as you know, but if you want the saint then why aren't you going after her? You don't seem like the kind of guy to sit back and long for anything."

"I am not longing for Robin Scorpio," Patrick scoffed. "I don't long for women, they long for me."

"Could have fooled me." Carly let out a noise that eerily sounded like a snake hissing and slinked away.

Patrick stood thinking for a while, long after Robin and Nikolas had finished their dance. Then, he came to a decision. He dropped his glass onto a pass waiter's tray and strode forward.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This is the last bit of the night. I have one or two more parts in mind. Then….free for all. Hope you are all still enjoying my version of events. Not exactly a wish, but darn close.

Snoopy – jealous Patrick makes you so nervous you make me so nervous that I'm missing something! I might not be doing it all justice in this rushed story. but I think you can see where his head is going.

And for all those liking Robin and Nikolas, I have no preference either way I just like to see another man appreciating her as a friend and a woman. And I like Nikolas when he's not with Umily or Courtney (which means I haven't liked him much in years). He might come into play later, depends.

>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One  
>>>>>>>>   
_'Cause I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away  
And I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today  
'Cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right_  
>>>>>>>

"Can I talk to you?"

Robin looked up at Patrick hovering tensely over her. Her instincts told her to run, but she couldn't find an excuse to refuse him. They were friends and colleagues, after all. But there was that wild card factor and it seemed to be rearing its ugly head in a big way.

"Sure." She looked at Nikolas briefly before she turned away and followed Patrick through the casino and out the doors to the deck. Nikolas just raised his eyebrows and offered her a silent toast.

"Are you cold?" Patrick asked her as he sat down on a deck trunk and Robin rested her arms on the rail and looked out over the water.

"No. What did you want to talk about?" Robin turned her head and looked at him, for once he was at eye level. Then again, he had been that time she kissed him in the hospital. That was when she had aired their private business in public. Not that he minded, she mentally rolled her eyes and dropped her eyes to look somewhere at his chest and away from his piercing eyes.

"You look beautiful," Patrick couldn't help himself from saying as she glowed before him in the moonlight.

"Thank you. You look handsome. Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"No." Patrick shook his head and looked down at his hands, smiling wryly. "Last night was car crash."

"I prefer to think of it as a train wreck." Robin turned and leaned back against the railing. She was curious to hear what he had to say. He had never particularly struck her as a chatty guy.

He chuckled at her input. "Tempers were flaring, emotions were running high and we made some decisions that I feel might have been made in haste. I wasn't prepared to talk when we finally got to share something of a meal together, which by the way doesn't cancel your debt of dinner." He made a disgusted face. "I wanted to take a step back and talk about it again now while calmer heads prevailed."

"What's changed since last night?" Robin's heart starting beating hard and fast in her chest. A hope that she couldn't tamp down was building.

Patrick looked at her silently, thinking seriously about her question, looking at her shining in the moonlight. This was the woman who attracted his attention no matter where they were and who else was in the room. The woman he wanted to do nothing more than reach out and touch when he was supposed to be forgetting about her. This didn't just happen to him. But neither did he ever walk away from getting something that he wanted, easy or not. His hands didn't shake when performing surgery in a black out with a gun pointed at him. Medical school hadn't been easy, building a career in the shadow of his father's flame out hadn't been easy and Robin Scorpio wasn't going to cow him. He knew the value of hard work and had a deep disdain for failure.

"I've never had a long-term relationship. I'm not even sure when I decided that it would be like that or if I did. Maybe it was when my mother died." He shrugged. "Maybe it's just because women have always been…"

"Easy?" Robin interjected.

Patrick shot her a look of surprise and then chuckled. "Available. I admit I never had to try very hard to find a woman to spend time with, have a good time with, have sex with. But my focus has always been on school, then on my career and sometimes on my dad's various attempts at sobriety." At the mention of his father, his face tightened and he ran his hand through his hair nervously. "No one has ever held my attention for long or been a particular challenge. Not until you." He held her gaze with his, willing her to see the truth of his words, to accept them. And to not throw them back in his face as she did the night before.

"What are you saying?" Robin felt so many things she didn't know which feeling took precedence. Hope. Fear. Anxiety. Giddiness. And, surprisingly, a streak of lust. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands.

"I'm saying that maybe our goals aren't all that different."

Robin sighed and looked down. He still wasn't coming right out and saying what he wanted, leaving her a lot of room to interpret and misinterpret. And a lot of wiggle room if she wanted to take it – a quick thanks but no thanks and go back inside and let herself bask in the attentions of Nikolas Cassadine and the other men she had danced with tonight. There'd be, she admitted, a period of longing, but maybe they'd avoid ripping each other to shreds like they had last night. He was a neophyte at this and her own history didn't speak well of her relationship ability. Maybe they'd already done the best they could do?

At the thought, her instincts started screaming. They had the voice of her mother – Devanes do not go quietly, they yelled at her.

"Was this a bad idea?"

Patrick's question interrupted the frantic thoughts in her head and she looked up at him. When she looked at him all she felt was a longing. A longing to feel his attention on her, to see him smile, to savor his kisses, and yes, even engage in the bickering that seemed to be their hallmark. Devanes did not go quietly, but neither did they go easily. A secretive smile curved her lips and she looked him squarely in the eyes.

"I'm not sure what this is, Patrick. Last night we agreed that I'm interested in committed relationships and you're not. Are you saying that you, overnight, have changed?"

"I'm saying that in light of my intense preoccupation with you I'm willing to consider that it's something that I might be interested in."

"Forgive me if I don't swoon." Robin straightened up and prepared to walk away.

"Do you expect me to suddenly propose marriage to you?" Patrick held up his hands.

"You said that yesterday. It was stupid then and it's stupid now." She crossed her arms.

"I'm trying to be honest with you. Would you believe me if I suddenly told you that I can't get my mind off you, that you're all I think about and the only woman who I'm remotely interested in."

Robin froze. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. But would she believe it. Probably not.

What she didn't know was that this was the first completely honest thing Patrick had ever said to her regarding his feelings for her. Though it was swiftly becoming apparent to him that this was the case, that this was true. But neither did Drakes go down without a fight.

"I need to get back inside. I'm cold." Robin's voice was as cool as the spring night air. Her mother would be proud, she thought.

"Wait!" Patrick reached out, but didn't touch her, not wanting to manhandle her. He just desperately didn't want her to leave yet. He had come out here with a clear goal and he wasn't sure where he had so utterly cocked up. He took off his suit jacket and handed it to her.

Robin automatically took the coat, hating that she halted at the sound of panic in his voice and at the feeling of desperate hope it evoked inside her. She hated that she let him churn her up this way, over and over again. She hated that she was helpless to just walk away and that doing so would make her a coward. She had tried that last night and she had failed utterly. But she knew that she couldn't compromise on monogamy. Both because of her HIV status, but also because of her emotional make up.

Then she remember Carly.

She made to hand him back his coat. Frustrated, he stood up and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Could you wait a damn minute! Please."

"Nothing has changed since last night, Patrick. You're friends with Carly and I can't go through that again. I just saw you talking to her!"

"I don't know what 'again' means, but beyond telling you that nothing has ever happened or will ever happen between me and her I don't know what you expect me to do. You have no right to dictate my friends and acquaintances no matter what our relationship is." His words were clipped. No matter how much he wanted her, he wouldn't be controlled.

"You're right. I don't. And the fact that you're friendly and acquainted with her in the way that you are doesn't work for me so we have nothing to talk about." She tried to tear his coat off, but he held it firm, his hands on her shoulders.

"Will you just talk to me! You keep throwing out all these pronouncements and do's and don'ts of Robin Scorpio and you never let me get a word in edgewise. You mess up and you apologize, but you don't give me the same opportunity."

"You've never tried to apologize for anything. I thought that was because you think you're perfect!"

At that Patrick couldn't help the smirk that curved his lips. For the most part that was true. The look caused Robin to utter an oath and try to walk away again. "I'm sorry! There, you happy?" he yelled.

"Sorry for what? Not that it matters." Robin crossed her arms and raised her chin.

"I'm sorry that I made you apologize and air our business in front of Carly, in front of anyone. It was immature and I only did it because I was angry and…very hurt by the things you said."

"I accept your apology."

"But?"

"When Jason and I were together, Jason was sleeping with Carly. He was her nameless boy on the side."

Patrick winced as something Carly had said the night before came back to him.

"Then when she was pregnant with Michael she convinced him to pretend Michael was his son, even though it humiliated me. Then she ran off and left Michael with us because she couldn't handle being a mother. When she came back she…things happened and Jason invited her and Michael to live with us. His first loyalty became Carly and always at my expense."

She looked up and saw that Patrick was listening and gained the strength to continue. "She hated that Jason was with me and she went out of her way to come between us and he let her. When Carly gets a hold of people they never come out of it the same." She thought briefly, sadly of Tony Jones. "Now, she's managed to get her hooks in Jax and he knows what she's like! She destroys people, especially men, and I won't be involved in all that again. No, I can't dictate who anyone is friends with, Patrick, but I can choose not to put myself in that danger zone again."

Patrick was quiet for a long moment and he sat back down. "I would never choose Carly over you. I would never be so disloyal. And if…if it would make you feel better I would no longer associate with her. It's not like we were ever close." Patrick shrugged. Now that he no longer felt he was being strong armed and was given some insight, he was able to choose to do the respectful thing. "And I'm really sorry for making you apologize to me in front of her last night now that I know all that. But it did mean a lot to me that you did. It means a lot more now." It told him just how honorable she was and maybe, just maybe, that she had deeper feelings for him than she had ever let on.

Robin looked away, her lips pursed. What the hell did this all mean, she wondered? He still hadn't said he wanted to even date her, never mind try commitment. She hadn't decided whether she could take that chance. Still, she couldn't walk away.

"Robin," Patrick whispered. He cupped her chin with his strong, surgeon fingers and turned her back to face him. They stood and stared at each other. She let him pull her forward into the circle of his arms. Her eyes dropped to his plump lips, lips that she knew delivered staggering kisses.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Patrick cupped her face and initiated a knee-melting kiss.

Robin's hand came up and grasped his arm, her other held on to his shoulder. After the initial heat, the kiss changed. It gentled, slowed, went on and on. They were drowning in it.

For right now, not caring that nothing had been settled.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Finally had a few minutes to finish this up. There's more to come. Thanks for the excited feedback! It does encourage and inspire me.

I just could not resist a certain conversation in here. It amuses me to no end. I love RLS. And if Patrick messes up, it's a short jump to the Roah ship :P Just kidding, mostly.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not The One – 6  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_I never know what the future brings  
But I know you are here with me now  
We'll make it through_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Time moved on, but Robin and Patrick remained locked in each others' arms, drinking the other in. Each time either made to move back, even just to breathe, their lips involuntarily pulled back together. Neither knew how much time had passed when Patrick finally pulled back enough to evade her following lips.

"Robin, we haven't really dec…"

"Shut up, Patrick." Robin stood up on her tiptoes and dived in for more. The feel of his kisses made her body feel lazy and liquid. There was nowhere to get to and nothing to figure out while his lips were on hers. She didn't want to think, to go back to their miscommunications and cross-purposes.

Patrick chuckled and effortlessly gave in to her order. He was running his hands up and down the silk material of her dress when there was the sound of a clearing throat.

"Excuse me, Dr. Drake, Dr. Scorpio. Sorry to interrupt."

Robin, recognizing the voice immediately pulled back and ducked her head. She sucked in a breath and felt her face burn up with heat. But she straightened her shoulders and turned around to face Drs. Alan and Monica Quatermaine. The echo of her tirade the night before about the man she had just been caught necking with was loud in her mind. And sparkling in Monica and Alan's eyes.

Patrick, on the other hand, was smirking and enjoying Robin's discomfort entirely too much. So much so that she felt compelled to elbow him in the chest. He just laughed and held on to her arm.

"Patrick, Have you spoken to your father lately?" Alan asked.

"I haven't seen him in a couple days. Why?" Patrick sounded unconcerned, but inside his heart started pounding. It was entirely too familiar, the drunk vanishing out of sight on a binge, except now he had cirrhosis of the liver. A death sentence hanging over both of their heads.

"The floor nurse just said he didn't show up for rounds, and he hasn't answered his page all day. He's just disappeared," Monica added worriedly.

"We've tried to call his apartment, no luck there either," Alan added, memories of his own son's battle with alcohol fresh in his mind as he watched Patrick's attempt to remain stoic. He felt a strong wave of sympathy for the young doctor and he was glad that Robin Scorpio was the person by his side as he received this disturbing news.

"We should go look for him," Robin said worriedly.

Patrick just shrugged behind her, but standing so close Robin could feel the emotional turmoil pouring out of him.

"Please let us know if there's anything we can do," Alan said before quietly excusing himself and Monica. As they walked away they shared an observation about how Robin Scorpio and Patrick Drake reminded them of themselves many years ago and they decided to go share a dance.

"Let's go, Patrick," Robin prompted.

"If he wants to drink himself to death, I'm not going to stop him." Patrick sighed and looked out over the water. Once again his father and his bottle were screwing up his life. He wished he didn't care.

"You don't mean that," Robin said. "Let's go." At the feel of Robin's hand on his arm Patrick wondered if maybe this time would be different. This time he wasn't alone in trying to save his father from himself. And if nothing else, she was with him. He nodded and picked up his suit jacket from the ground and insisted that Robin put it on.

>>>>>>>>

"Are you sure you want to leave with that guy?" Nikolas asked Robin quietly when she stopped to let him know where she was going. Patrick was waiting impatiently near the stairs leading to the entrance.

"His father is missing, he needs me. And I care about Noah, too."

"Looks like you care about the son." Nikolas said referring to her wearing of Patrick's suit jacket and her looking like she had been very thoroughly kissed.

Robin smiled shyly.

"If he hurts you just say the word and Cassadine vengeance is at your disposal." Then, with a wistful smile, he stroked her mussed hair off her cheek. "If you need a friend, or more, I'm always here for you."

"Thanks, Nikolas." Touched, Robin leaned in and kissed his cheek.

"And if you want me to get some men looking for this Dr. Drake, let me know." Nikolas shrugged at Robin's surprised look. She knew there was no love lost between Patrick and Nikolas dating back to Patrick's date with Emily.

"Not right now, but if we do I'll call you."

"Call me anyway. Now, get going before your boyfriend comes over here and makes me hurt him again."

"He's not my boyfriend," Robin insisted. Nikolas just rolled his eyes.

>>>>>>

At Robin's behest, they stopped at her place first. As they walked into the apartment Patrick's eyes were immediately drawn to the table where the flowers he had given her, and she had trashed, the night before were prominently displayed. He slid his hands in his pocket and felt a sense of satisfaction that they were where they belonged. Any annoyance he had at Robin and Nikolas' close moment before they left momentarily abated.

Robin, meanwhile, headed towards the bedroom to change out of her gown. "Why don't you make use the phone and call some hospitals?" She closed the door behind her, eliciting a disappointed grunt from Patrick.

"Be more practical to call bars," Patrick mumbled as he found the yellow pages that had just been delivered to Robin's new apartment and opened it up to the bar section. While he was calling and waiting he noticed a pile of CD's on a table waiting to be organized and began to sift through them. Some he smiled at approvingly, some he made a grimace and some he shrugged away. A few though earned an interested look. He had made three fruitless calls before Robin came out of the bedroom in black pants and a black turtle neck sweater and a small black purse.

"You look like a cat burglar. A hot one, though." Patrick leered and licked his bottom lip as he put the phone back in its cradle. "So I notice that you have some Rick Springfield CD's." He infused his voice with a feigned casual tone.

"Yeah, what of it?" Robin challenged, used to people mocking her taste for the hot rocker.

"It's just interesting. Some people have said that my dad looks a bit like Rick Springfield." Patrick rocked back on his heels, his expression inscrutable.

"Really?" Robin cleared her throat and turned to put on her black leather jacket.

"You really are the president of the Noah Drake fan club!" Patrick crowed.

"Your jealousy of your father is kind of cute," Robin said haughtily.

"Jealous," Patrick scoffed.

"Your father is a very good looking and charming man. I'm sure if he wanted to he could steal away any of the woman that fawn all over you. It's natural you'd be threatened by that." Robin said in her reasonable, doctor's tone as she walked towards the front door.

"Like you?" Patrick leaned over her, trying to fluster her.

"Do I fawn over you?" Robin rolled her eyes.

"No." The one word conveyed all of Patrick's disappointment and annoyance with that fact.

"See, jealous!" Robin said triumphantly and opened the front door and looked at him pointedly.

Patrick pulled the door open wider from above her head so that Robin could walk through first. "You know," he started as she hit the hallway. "You were fawning all over me pretty good just a little while ago." He licked his lips and grinned cockily at her.

Robin just looked at him smugly and waited for him to close the door. If Patrick wanted to be jealous of his father and her fondness of him she didn't mind. She really did find it endearing. Especially since he and Noah denied that they were two peas in a pod when they couldn't be more alike than if they were twins.

Patrick closed the door and then slid his hands into the suit jacket Robin had returned to him. "Where now?"

"Let's go to Noah's apartment."

"I told you I don't have a key and I don't think there's anyone on site, like a superintendent, to open the door." Patrick looked worried.

"Don't worry about that." Robin patted her purse. Patrick just looked at her curiously and followed her back down to his car.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: No one ever accused soaps of being subtle. Can't make that claim in this story either. Have they actually never said Patrick's mother's name! I've been waiting to hear it forever and nada. It's kind of weird. So, I didn't bother to make one up here either.

Totally shallow note, something about Patrick's expression when he reveals to Robin that he used Snarly to annoy her just gets to me.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 7  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>_  
And I hope you are the one I share my life with  
And I wish that you could be the one I die with  
And I pray in you're the one I build my home with  
I hope I love you all my life_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Now what?" Patrick grunted in frustration and banged his hand against Noah's apartment door again.

Robin said nothing, just opened her purse and pulled out a black case that look a lot like a manicure set, except when she opened it even Patrick recognized burglary tools.

"Do you know how to use those?" Patrick was obviously shocked. This did not fit with his image of the goody-two-shoes Dr. Scorpio who came home with files to cold sheets and lectured everyone on doing the right thing. She just smiled her secret smile and pulled out the two tools she needed and got to work. Within seconds the door was popping open.

"Does your Uncle know about those?" Patrick could swear he heard somewhere that it was a crime to possess burglary tools, but that might just have been in some movie.

"He's a Scorpio." Robin shrugged and pushed the door open, letting Patrick lead the way. Truth was Mac had gotten her the tools as a sort of "just in case" kind of thing, but Robin wasn't going to go blabbing that this was the kind of gift her Police Commissioner Uncle bought her. He also helped perfect the techniques that her mother had taught her when she was a kid. She was kind of surprised to find that her timing hadn't suffered even though it had been a few years since she had used the tools. She kind of missed the thrill of it.

"I bet it comes in handy when you lock your keys in the car or in the apartment when throwing the garbage out," Patrick bantered as they walked into Noah's apartment. Despite the banter his anxiety was palpable. He turned on the light and quietly called out for his father. Robin saw his hesitance to enter the bedroom and bathroom area of the apartment because he was afraid of what he might find so she put her hand on his arm and squeezed.

He looked down at her, put his hand over hers and then without word walked further into the apartment.

Meanwhile, Robin walked over to a side table and picked up one of the framed photos there. She had seen them back when she was in Noah's apartment back in New York, but back then she didn't have a context them for the people in it. This, the largest of the photos, was clearly of Noah, Patrick and Patrick's mother; they were obviously a happy, loving family. Her heart broke just a little for what Patrick had lost. She traced her finger over the blond haired, green eyed woman. She could see some resemblance to Patrick in the shape of her smile and the cheeks. Though she had never met her she felt a connection to this woman. It was unnerving and she was putting the photo back down when Patrick came back out into the living room.

"He's not here." He walked over and looked at the photos, clearly disconcerted to find that his father kept mementos like this around, including a candid shot of him at his medical school graduation that he hadn't know his father had attended. He had never actually been inside his father's apartment and seeing those photos, the history, the intimacy of it, he felt really guilty about that.

"Your mother was very beautiful," Robin murmured, looking up at Patrick nervously.

"Yeah." At the mention of his mother a sad smile was immediately lit up his face. He looked down at Robin and once again she couldn't read the expression in his eyes. It was the same look he had at the MetroCourt when he revealed he had pretended to sleep with Carly just to annoy her. Though the revelation should have angered her, the complete seriousness and intensity of how he was looking at her disconcerted her. Just as it was there in Noah's apartment.

"Now what?" Patrick finally spoke, his voice tense.

Robin spun around looking for some clue when she spotted the yellows pages open on the counter in the kitchen near the phone. She walked over and looked and saw that it was open to "Abuse Treatment Centers." She felt Patrick tense up even more next to her when he saw what she spotted. He started reading the list, but Robin picked up the phone instead and hit redial. He turned his head and looked at her, waiting.

"Do you have a Dr. Noah Drake registered?" Robin waited, then nodded at Patrick who crossed his arms and looked at her, obviously impressed. "I'm with him now, Dr. Patrick Drake. We'll be there as soon as possible to pick him up." She turned off the phone and looked at Patrick.

"Noah's medical condition is more than the clinic can handle and they've been looking for Noah's next of kin."

"I knew he went on a bender," Patrick's words were terse as he watched Robin tear the page out of the book that had the clinic's address.

"Let's go." Robin put her hand on Patrick's arm. He shook her off and backed up.

"Why bother. They should dump him out and let him go drink himself to death. It's clearly what he wants."

"Alcoholism is a disease Patrick, just as much as cirrhosis."

"And he has consistently refused treatment for both of them."

"He's in a treatment center, he's been sober."

"But no liver transplant for martyr Noah Drake and he drank just fine for the ten years prior. He's right. He put himself in this state." Patrick dug into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. "If you want to go get him be my guest. I'm going to follow his wishes as you suggested I do and wash my hands of him."

"Patrick, you don't mean this. I understand that you're hurt and angry."

"No, Dr. Scorpio. You have no idea." Patrick put the keys on top of the phone book, spun on his heels and walked out.

>>>>>>>>>>

"I guess Patrick was right. You did go on a bender. Do you even know how much you drank this time?"

Robin couldn't bring herself to be upset with Patrick for walking away. She had seen the anguish that his father's alcoholism and subsequent refusal to fight to live was causing him. Before, she has suspected it, especially when he offered his own liver and lashed out at Robin whenever the subject came up. Tonight, though, he had given her a full view of the pain in his eyes, the anxiety and frustration was in the line of his body. She didn't think that walking away was the answer, but she couldn't fault him for it either.

She hadn't been dealing with Noah's drinking for ten years. Noah hadn't abandoned her when her mother died and when she needed a father. Patrick was right; it was easier for her to show him compassion. And given her stubborn refusal to forgive her own father, not that he was even around to forgive, she could hardly throw stones at Patrick. What she could do was do her damndest to help Patrick to make peace with his father so that no matter what happened he didn't live with regret. So it didn't haunt him for the rest of his days.

That left Noah as the target for her wrath and determination. For the moment.

"I don't want Patrick to know this. But I didn't have a drop. I -- I -- I -- I could've used a drink, but I checked myself in here. The urge was just overwhelming. It's all in the chart." Noah's voice was rough; Robin could hear the physical and emotional pain in his words.

"I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions. You did the right thing." Which she knew she wouldn't have if she hadn't been empathizing so much with his son.

"Oh. I'll be back in my son's face in no time."

"No, your cirrhosis is at end-stage. You have to be checked into general hospital immediately."

"No."

"Why are you refusing to save your own life? Which part of you dying will help your son?"

"Help my son? My son doesn't need any help. It's my life, I made my choices, I'll deal with the consequences."

Noah was so full of shit, so misguided it was both sad and infuriating. "Then why did you check yourself in here? Why don't you just go drink yourself to death somewhere?"

"I want to go out sober."

"To spite Patrick?" The selfishness, the brutality of what Noah was doing and thinking to Patrick angered her, made her think of her own father who had chosen his own cowardice over being with his daughter.

"I'm going to make Patrick so angry at me he won't be around to watch me die."

Because having Patrick angry with his dead father is the road to well-adjusted. No wonder the family fell apart after their mother was gone, Robin thought in frustrated despair. "Oh, god, that makes absolutely no sense. I don't understand why you would purposely want to hurt –"

"I'm doing it because I love my son."

"Right, like my father loved me so much that he disappeared for fifteen years. That's just an excuse." She was saying to him what she didn't get to say to her own father. What Patrick didn't bother to say to Noah.

"I want Patrick to have a good life. I want him to have the life that my wife and I planned for him. The best thing he can do is forget me and the mess I made of my life."

"How can he possibly forget about you? You're all he has. The problem is you two are exactly alike -- you're way too stubborn to find a way to resolve this."

"And you're way too smart to put yourself in the middle of a no-win situation." With that Robin saw a spark of life in Noah. One that somehow Patrick had to tap into to get through to him.

"Well, if you think that can scare me away, you're mistaken."

"Huh. What are you going to do?" Noah almost smiled with the question, intrigued and impressed with this woman before him. She had dragged his ass out of a bar and back into the OR. He didn't doubt her tenacity or creativity, though he knew, or thought he did, he would get his way in the end.

"Watch me."

>>>>>>>>>>


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Still just a soap opera...and this is really soapy. A sweet angst. Some cursing.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 8  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_'Cause I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away  
And I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today  
'Cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Patrick was spent as he walked the miles from Noah's apartment to General Hospital. It wasn't entirely a physical weariness, though it was manifesting itself as that he thought wearily as he shifted his jacket to his other hand. Despite the cool air, he was sweating in his suit from his exertions.

The last two days had been draining in a way that he was not equipped to deal with. From Robin's vicious verbal flaying, which, though he had forgiven and understood a lot better now, had taken a lot out of him, especially since he had been so excited and looking forward to an evening in her company in her private space before being dropped from the cliff. Which led to his dissatisfying and all too illuminating run in with Carly – illuminating in that he was just going through the motions, he wasn't the least bit tempted to drown himself in easy sex (he had no doubt he could have gotten her to lay down for him if he had really tried - and he was probably right), a point that hit him clearly between the eyes the moment he saw Robin and stepped back like a husband caught with his pants down. All of which led to his second and third and fourth run ins with Robin, his drunken date and now to his father turning up missing and in detox.

Dammit! He had purposefully set up his life so that his father couldn't hurt him anymore and he never expected there to be a woman who could. All of his perceptions about himself and his life were quickly proving to be illusions and it was leaving him open and bare in a way he hadn't been since he had been a boy secure in the love of his mother and his idol father. A long fucking time ago.

It wasn't that he had definitively decided there would be no happy family after his father's flame out, he just wasn't looking for it and eventually came to believe was something he never would find. The reason for that was, though he didn't consciously know it, any woman that didn't live up to the standard set in his eyes by his mother didn't hold his interest. So he figured he was saf and after a lot shorter time than a decade it became who he was - the playboy surgeon. Then he met Robin Scorpio, a woman who met every standard he didn't know he had.

Basically, all this fighting against the unknown going on in his subconscious, the experience of new emotions, the shattering of the illusions he had about himself and this new vulnerability all smacked him upside the head in that moment in his father's apartment. So he ran, an action that he was ashamed of now as he dragged himself to face up to the consequences. See, he was certain there would be consequences because now, for the first time since his mother died, there was someone in his life who held him accountable for his actions, for performing higher than the standard of his baser instincts. Someone who, and he could hardly comprehend this, believed in him as more than a cocky, womanizing surgeon. And he so desperately wanted to gain her approval, even though he resisted the notion, and he never felt he really got it except during the epidemic. He was certain, though wrong, that he had lost it by leaving her to clean up the mess of his father; yet, he couldn't stay away. Couldn't not see her and bask in whatever it was that she was going to lay on him. She was a sight to behold in any mood, Patrick thought bemusedly.

Robin Scorpio. The self-appointed savior of the Drake man, as Patrick and Noah both separately thought of her. Neither knew whether to resent the hell out of her for bringing them together into this tragic theatre or whether to grab onto her like a lifeline. Both admired her and were scared of her in equal measure. Both had unspoken crushes on her as well; except that Patrick, well, Patrick was more than a little bit in love with her too. He just wasn't ready to find that piece of sanity in the middle of the turmoil just yet.

With a sigh, Patrick opened the door to the hospital and steeled himself to face another battle.

>>>>>>>>>

"Getting me moved to General is not going to change anything. As soon as I'm strong enough, I'm going to check myself out. There's not going to be any operation, unless you got a spare liver in your purse. I took myself off the donor list," Noah crossed his arms and pouted at Robin from his hospital bed.

Sighing, Robin resisted the urge to punch the man. "Will you just stop? You still have a chance, including a donation from a willing son who loves you. That's a lot more than most people could say in your situation."

"Most people in my situation have a legitimate reason to have a transplant."

"They all have bad livers, it doesn't matter how they got them."

"It does to me. My -- my liver's shot because I drank. It wasn't injury or -- or -- or a disease. I did it to myself. I earned this."

"Did you also earn the right to be your own judge and jury? To decide that you don't deserve to live?"

"What's this really all about, huh? Is it compassion or medical ethic or you just want to look good in my son's eyes?" The question blew away the carefully prepared speech Robin had about her HIV status and alcoholism being a disease. As did the smug look in Noah's eyes as he hit her where it hurt, whether by design or accident she wasn't sure.

"Do you realize you're just as narcissistic as Patrick?"

"Patrick's a brilliant doctor and a good man," Noah said proudly.

"Maybe, but he's also an egotistical, arrogant, self-centered jerk." Robin stepped closer to the bed. "Do you really think my meddling in his business with you is what I need to do to look good in Patrick's eyes?"

"I think," Noah said slowly and then stopped. Frowned. Looked at a spot on his blanket.

"Do you think that Patrick wants anyone to make him deal with this, with you and the pain you caused him for the past ten years? Do you think that it endears him to me that I can't just sit by and let you die and let him lose whatever chance he might have at saving you or making peace with you? Do you think that it rocks his world?" Robin demanded, voicing her second greatest fear in all of this – the first was that Noah would die and that Patrick would be haunted by his death for the rest of his days – the second was that Patrick would scorn her for her interference. It was a silent testimony to how much she cared about these men that she meddled anyway.

Noah closed his eyes, unable to find the words that were in his heart. Words about his son. About his wife. About himself. He didn't deserve all this fuss, he didn't want it. Yet, he did and didn't know how to accept anymore than his son did.

Robin wanted to ask him again and again until he answered, but she had her pride. She sighed and clutched the file she still held in her hand from the treatment center.

"Where is Patrick? If you took enough trouble to get me here, I'm sure you alerted him, right?"

"Patrick is doing a procedure right now."

"Really? What's her name?" Noah smirked.

"He'll be here. No matter how angry he is with you, you're still his father." Robin hoped that was true. "I'll let you rest." She put the file down and walked out.

As the door closed behind her she closed her eyes and dropped her head in her hands. She was shaking with it, the emotion and the recognition. She had been down this road before there was no way she could have avoided recognizing it for long. It was why she was here tonight instead of on a boat gambling and dancing the night away with a handsome prince who had a soft spot for her. It was why she had been in tears on the floor of her apartment the day before when she thought it was all a joke on her, his interest. It was why, well, it was the why of so many things.

She was in love with Patrick Drake. She was stunned by the realization, staggered by the implications and terrified she'd end up in pieces on the floor all alone before this all played out. As far as she knew nothing had changed since the night before, except Patrick being willing to put her above Carly. It wasn't like he could suddenly decide he was grown up and in love and willing to be monogamous.

Was it?

"Robin, what's wrong?" Patrick asked worriedly, hurrying over at the sight of Robin standing looking stricken outside Noah's room. "Is my father…worse? Or just drunk?"

Robin turned to face him, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do now.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: As I was writing this I realized that I've come to an impasse. I had only gotten gripped by the throat to get these two to the hospital with Noah and redo what I thought was a waste of good scrubs angst. Never fear, I would never leave Scrubs love hanging in the balance, but updates are going to slow down (9 parts in 3 nights!) now as we catch up to the show and I decide if I even want to go the way they are (Robin is not a flockin' surgeon, things like that irritate me). Feedback inspires me ;-)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 9  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_'Cause I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away  
And I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today  
'Cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

She was in love with Patrick Drake. She was stunned by the realization, staggered by the implications and terrified she'd end up in pieces on the floor all alone before this all played out. As far as she knew nothing had changed since the night before, except Patrick being willing to put her above Carly. It wasn't like he could suddenly decide he was grown up and in love and willing to be monogamous.

Was it?

"Robin, what's wrong?" Patrick asked worriedly, hurrying over at the sight of Robin standing looking stricken outside Noah's room. "Is my father…worse? Or just drunk?"

Robin turned to face him, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do now. There was nothing else to do but address the matter at hand. "Patrick, Noah's cirrhosis has reached end stage."

"Great, so he goes out on a bender, go out with a bang," Patrick said scornfully, pushing his lab coat back and put his hands on his hips. When he got to the hospital, he ditched the sweaty suit and put on blue scrubs.

"He was sober. He checked himself into the clinic so that he wouldn't drink."

"I've been dealing with him for years, don't be naïve."

"It's in his chart. You can see it for yourself. He was tested."

"Fine. I will." But he didn't move, reluctant to go and see his father and still waiting for Robin to say something about his walking out on her at his father's apartment.

She just stood looking at him expectantly, but he could see there was something else on her mind. He assumed it was her disappointment in him. He didn't know it was the shock of realizing that she was in love with him. Which, all in all, was a good thing because he wouldn't know what to do with that knowledge at that moment in time.

"I should have left you to…"

"Patrick's it's not necessary." She was telling the truth, she wasn't just in a rush to leave his presence before she lost her composure. She walked closer to him, wanting to keep the conversation quiet. "I can see you're going through a lot here, I'm don't mind picking up the slack. I care about Noah, too."

"Well, you are president of his fan club." Humor was a tried and true crutch when he didn't know what else to say.

"Well." While he contemplated why she was so generous to him, Robin turned and looked at the door, her frustration and anger at the man swept back through her. "I was."

"So much for his charm," Patrick joked. "I take it he's still refusing treatment."

"You need to get through to him."

Patrick scratched his head and looked at the door like he could see through it.

"I'll be here."

Patrick turned and looked back at her. She had given up her night out to chase after his father with him, for him. She had shown herself to have admirable criminal skills. Now, she was going to wait for him. Thank you didn't seem adequate.

"I already ruined your night; you don't have to hang around here."

"I want to, Patrick." Despite the staggering revelations she still hadn't coped with, there was nowhere else she needed to be than with him through this. Which, if she hadn't already figured out how she felt, would have been a blinding hint. She wondered that Patrick didn't seem to get that.

It occurred to Patrick in that moment to ask why, but neither of them were prepared for the answer that was simmering just beneath the surface.

"I'll be in the lab."

"Robin," Patrick called out as turned to go. She turned and looked at him with those compassionate, deep brown eyes. He could see something was bothering her still, but he assumed it was about his father. "You looked beautiful tonight. I want to finish that conversation."

Robin nodded.

"And that kiss." Patrick winked before pushing the door open to go talk to his father.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Busy day at work today! By the way, I hate Courtney. Think her and Nikolas' relationship was a big fat joke and hate her for ruining Jax - she was the warm up for this Carjax nightmare, because while the actors are great together, the characters don't fit without unbelievably elevating one or polluting the other.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 10  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
_If I don't need you then why am I crying on my bed?  
If I don't need you then why does your name resound in my head?  
If you're not for me then why does this distance maim my life?_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Have you taken to wandering the halls of General Hospital late at night, Nikolas?" Robin looked up from the computer she was working on at the Nurse's Station to find Nikolas Cassadine fresh from the Haunter Star Party leaning against the counter. She had been emailing with the clinic in Geneva who was running a trial of one of her drug combinations and trying not to think about what was going on down the hall in Noah's room. Or in her own head. Nikolas, looking scruffy and handsome in his suit was a welcome distraction.

"I thought I'd…well, you know. And I wanted to see if you were all right. If you found senior Drake."

Robin smiled sweetly at Nikolas. She understood why he was there, he was still grieving for Courtney and didn't know what else to do with himself. His only remaining tie to the woman he believed he loved was her son, who he wasn't allowed to see. Because she understood she felt compelled to try and make it all better for him, though she knew all she could do was be a sympathetic friend.

"We did."

"How is he doing?" Nikolas saw something in her face as she answered. And he was looking pretty closely, because, though he'd never really figure this out, he had been flinging from one extreme to another since his grandmother sent him to prison and his life went to hell, that included an ill-advised and rather shallow sexual relationship with the former Mrs. Jacks that he baked up in his mind as a saving love that would fix everything that had gone wrong. Robin was a calm in the eye of the storm.

"Not well." She sighed and leaned on the counter towards Nik. "He's dying," she whispered brokenly.

"That's rough." Nikolas absently stroked her hand. "I'm sorry. I know you care about him…and his son." He looked at her pointedly at the allusion to Patrick. At that, Robin's face changed, a change that Nikolas had age old experience with, remembering it from when he had been pursuing her and she was in love with Jason all those years ago. Back, unbelievable as it would have seemed then, life had been less complicated for him. Some subconscious part of him longed for that time, and as a result, was starting to long for Robin as if in having her he could get that relative innocence back. Plus, he was attracted to her and respected her to boot.

"Do you want to go get some coffee?" Robin said for the lack of anything else to say. She wasn't ready, might never be, to confide the feelings she had only acknowledged to herself tonight so she did what she did best. Pretended outwardly that she was serene and focused her concern on others, while in her head chaos ruled.

Nikolas allowed himself to be easily taken in by the façade because he sensed that's what she wanted and because it went along with his need for simple, as well as hers. So he accepted her invitation and, ever the gentleman, as they waited for the elevator he put his hand on her lower back and leaned in to her for a bit more of a private chat. Mostly about nothing, somewhat about Courtney and a little of whether they should have decaf or be wild and go full caf. His sardonic suggestion elicited laughter from Robin as they walked onto the elevator.

Just then, a highly emotionally charged Patrick came storming out of his father's room. He was burnt and twisted by Noah's adamant refusal to fight for his life, stung by his rejection of a second chance with his son. Without consciously knowing it, Patrick was seeking out Robin for more coaching before getting back into the ring with his father because he relied on her advice a lot more than he admitted to himself. He was pretending it was just because he had promised to finish having a conversation he still didn't even know how he planned to finish. He also wanted to drown himself in her kiss and he had some hope that she might let him. But mostly, whatever was going on with them was the furthest thing from his mind as he strode his sexy, confident form down the hallway; his focus was now narrowed to his fight to have his father live and deciding just how far he was willing to go.

He was entirely thrown off by the intimate picture that Nikolas and Robin made as they got into the elevator, the sound of her happy laughter and in the midst of his fatherly turmoil, he once again was stirred by the same feelings he had when he saw them together on The Haunted Star, feelings that he was not willing to label as jealousy. It was, after all, much easier to express righteous indignation that Robin wasn't right where he expected her to be - the lab and alone - when he expected her to be there and waiting for him. Resentment, basically, that he wasn't her sole focus; which, if he had stopped to think logically about it, is exactly how jealousy would be defined. Perhaps, but unlikely, if he had been thinking more clearly he would have been able to stop himself from storming ahead and exposing himself.

Fuming, Patrick called out Robin's name before the elevator doors closed. His cry of "Robin" reverberated all the way across the lobby. That shout would be something that everyone, mostly the women and some of the men, would be musing about for weeks. Everyone included Robin and Nikolas who halted their conversation and looked over to see Patrick striding towards them as the elevator doors closed.

"Well, Robin. What exactly is going on with you and Patrick Drake?" Nikolas asked.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Nikolas is back, he is kind of cute when he's not messing about with flaky women (Courtney, Natalia's Emily...). Yeah, this is still totally soapy. The characters have taken the lead, not sure what they want to do next. I think I'm done with Dr. Lee after this one snicker.

>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 11  
>>>>>>>>>   
_'Cause I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away  
And I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today  
'Cause I love you, whether it's wrong or right  
And though I can't be with you tonight  
And know my heart is by your side_  
>>>>>>>>>

Patrick stood in near the waiting lounge after the elevator doors closed, his body shaking in reaction to the emotions bubbling up inside him. He had the strongest urge to just leave the hospital and put an end to this night, but Robin still had his car keys and he was damned if he was going to walk all the way home because even though he was wearing his Chucks, his feet were still hurting. It was as good excuse as any.

He walked over to a nearby nurse and asked her if she knew where Dr. Scorpio and her friend were going. The nurse willingly told him she overheard them talking about coffee, excited to impart the information and become an involved party in the scene unfolding before everyone over this long night.

It was common knowledge in the hospital that Drs. Scorpio and Drake had something going on, but after tonight there would be no doubt that Dr. Drake was far gone on the pretty Dr. Scorpio. This story, of him screaming out her name as she walked off looking cozy with the handsome, rich owner of the Hospital, combined with the goings on at The Haunted Star opening – real and exaggerated – would be the talk of the Hospital for weeks to come, talk that would bite Patrick Drake in the ass many times over the coming weeks.

Stories such as Dr. Lee's recounting of her aborted date with Dr. Drake in which she said she ended because being such a romantic she saw how interested in Dr. Scorpio he was. Later, this story would be questioned when it was discovered that the habit of drowning her rejection in a haze of alcohol was one that would eventually lead her to a treatment center with Dr. Noah Drake as her AA sponsor, until he had to hand her over to someone else because her unwelcome sexual advances were hindering her recovery.

Or the lyrical recounting of the endless, passionate kiss on the boat deck that was seen by more than just the Drs. Quatermaine (or so they would like you to believe, because of course the Chief of Staff didn't gossip), a story which eventually became an outright sexual encounter, though most people just liked to imagine the two good looking doctors like that and didn't really believe it.

Then there was the sight of Robin leaving wearing Dr. Drake's suit coat that was corroborated by simply everyone, except for Carly and Jax who were too busy getting it on and Jason who was way too obsessed with sussing out his sister's illicit affair with his master/life partner.

With a nasty sense of _déjà vu_, Patrick walked into the Cafeteria to find Nikolas all alone with a single cup of coffee.

"She went back to look for you," Nikolas informed Patrick before he could even ask. "Wait!" Nikolas called out to Patrick when the latter turned to leave and stood up. "Don't hurt her man."

"Mind your business." Patrick turned back around, fighting the urge to punch the guy again.

"I watched her risk her life and her heart before with that sleaze Jason Morgan. She didn't listen to me then, so I'm telling you now. If you can't take care of her the way she deserves then I will."

"Just last week I was throwing your drunk ass out of the NICU and now you're lecturing me? I know Robin has a wide compassionate streak so don't make it mean more than that."

"I could say the same to you, Drake," Nikolas hissed, his Cassadine temper in full flare.

"She didn't want you then, what makes you think she'll want you now?" Patrick leaned in and got in Nikolas' face.

"I didn't fight for her then." Nikolas' deliberate words rang with a conviction that unsettled Patrick as much as the words themselves.

"I don't have time for a pissing contest with you. Just stay the hell out of my way." Patrick stalked away. When the hell did he start fighting over a woman, he cursed at himself.

"Better make the time, Drake." Nikolas warned softly, a full measure of Cassadine arrogance and threat in his voice.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Patrick found Robin hovering outside Noah's hospital room. "Can we get out of here?" Patrick asked wearily.

"How did it go with Noah?" Robin asked.

"As I expected. Still stubborn and still selfish. Just sober now."

"Noah is acting like a 5-year-old. He's making this about everything but the transplant -- old family baggage, the guilt over your mother's death -- and you are playing right into his hands."

"I know where you're going. Once again, you're trying to make it my fault that my father's a stubborn fool." He threw up his hands in exasperation.

"This is way past anyone's fault. Noah's condition is critical, and it is going to get worse. Someone needs to get through to him, and that someone needs to be you. So stop sulking like a disappointed son and start acting like a doctor."

Deep down Patrick knew she was right, he was acting like a son, the grieving and young son Noah had left behind ten years ago, and not the man or the doctor he had become. But Noah was sleeping now and he was too damn tired to jump through anymore of Robin Scorpio's hoops. He rubbed his forehead. Couldn't she just let him escape from all this for a short time?

"Can we just go home? You can start in on me tomorrow and then I'll start on him." They looked at each other silently for a moment and then fell into step as they headed for the Hospital garage.

"Do you want me to drive, you look exhausted," Robin asked as she took Patrick's keys out of her purse.

He shook his head and opened the passenger door to his black Mercedes-Benz SLK350 and held it open for her. With a mental shrug Robin got in the car. They were silent during the short ride to Robin's apartment. When they got there, Patrick surprised her by parking and walking her to her door.

"Not going to break in?" Patrick asked as she slid her key into the lock. Somewhere during the short drive in the quiet with Robin he decompressed. Consequently, he was very able and willing to try and get another kiss out of Robin or at least enjoy trying.

She looked up at him trying to read what this new might be. When she had first met him she had thought he was a cocky, shallow jerk that nothing got to. Now, she didn't know if she had just been taken in by an image or if bringing him back together with his father had caused him to become this moody, highly emotional man before her. The guy who let loose a shout that sent shivers down her spine whenever it echoed through her head. A shout that both of them were happy to ignore for the time being.

"Are you going to open the door?"

Flustered, Robin turned back and did just that, leading Patrick into her apartment. What he was doing there she wasn't sure.

"Do you want a drink?" She asked as he prowled around her living room, stopping at the flowers and sliding her a heated glance, and then continuing on to circle back around the couch.

"Sure. Water." He sat down and made himself comfortable.

Robin looked at him, perplexed, but then went to the kitchen to get him a drink.

"Did you have dinner?" She called out from the kitchen.

"Not hungry."

She came back with two waters and after a moment of contemplation sat down on the couch a half cushion away from him. For a few very awkward minutes they sat silently, sipping their waters. Robin was the first to break.

"Patrick, what are you doing here?"

"I'm drinking the water you so very kindly served me." Patrick tilted his head and looked at her, blinking sexily, a kittenish look on his face.

Robin rolled her eyes and put her water down on the coffee table and started staring at him.

Patrick chuckled at her reactions, loving it that she didn't fall easily for all his usual come ons. He scooted over on the couch until his body was flush with hers. "Come on, Scorpio, you know you want me to kiss you again." His voice was husky.

This was actually true, especially since he pitched his voice like that, she just didn't think it was a good idea. She shifted over a space until the end of the couch stopped her. "Last night we agreed…" She pointed at him until he grabbed her hand and interrupted.

"Tonight we agreed that what we agreed last night was a heat of the moment thing," he said, quickly grasping on to the reality that he wasn't going to get the kiss unless he made some sort of, well, commitment.

"We didn't agree to anything, we just…kissed." Robin shrugged and picked at some lint on her black slacks.

"I said that I wouldn't associate with Carly anymore, I said that I wasn't opposed to maybe giving this a shot. I apologized!"

"Not opposed to it or want to?" Robin crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow giving him her "I'm no fool" expression.

Looking at Robin sitting right next to him, looking up at him her chin tilted up in challenge, eyes daring him to say something cocky and glib, her hair mussed from a night out on the town that was vastly different than one he would have planned for them and he grinned. "You're beautiful when you glare at me." He chuckled at her exasperated noise. "No really. I should be a basket case right now, actually." He tilted his head and thought for a moment. "I think I am a basket case, but I'm sitting here with you right now and actually smiling." He turned to face her, put his elbow on the back of the couch and his knee on the couch between them.

"Patrick." Robin put her hand on his knee, touched by his words and unable to not touch him.

He wrapped his hand around the one she rested on his knee. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing here or anywhere right now. I just know that I'm can't walk away from you. I…have feelings for you." He let out a breath, the admission taking a lot out of him. His eyes, serious now, searched her face. "This thing with my father." He stopped, pursed his lips and forced himself to go on. To go on and say the words that pushed all of Robin's buttons. "I need your help. I need…you."

Tears wet Robin's eyes as she let him tug her forward until their lips met, then closer still as he pulled her flush against him.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Transition section. Try to stay awake. Yeah, I went to the gym this morning.

>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 12  
>>>>>>>>>>>>_  
And though I can't be with you tonight  
And know my heart is by your side_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Robin pressed the volume button up on her Creative Zen Nano music player that was hooked around her arm and continued her steady pace on the treadmill. The loud sounds of the live version of "I Get Excited" by Rick Springfield could be heard by anyone close around her, but the doctor's work out room was empty at this time of morning so she didn't worry about it. She wanted the extra kick that the loud, fast music lent her steps. She had been running on the treadmill for forty minutes now and she was nowhere near worked out of the stress that had driven her from her bed early this morning and had her tossing and turning all through the night after Patrick had left her apartment.

After saying he needed her.

Her step almost faltered at the memory of him saying those words, which was why she had chosen to run on the treadmill rather than along the jogging path near the Lake. She was much too distracted to not end up hurting herself or someone else. She had visions of mowing someone down as she dwelled on the tender time they had shared the night before.

After his admission they had shared a sweet, but brief kiss and then Patrick had just held her for a while before going home. Her analytical mind was now trying to figure out what it all meant, what was going on between them. It was clear that he needed her friendship and her support with all that was going on with his father. It was clear that he had more than platonic feelings for her, feelings that were more than just wanting to get her into bed. But they had still not agreed to anything – dating or more. He was willing to be monogamous, but when? Right now? After a few more dates?

Stop it! She ordered herself and clicked onto the next song – The Fray's "In Over My Head" – which suited her mood perfectly. She kept running.

"Well, well, well," Patrick walked into the work out room to see Robin sweaty and pounding the rubber on the treadmill. He was clad in shorts and a tank top and carried his towel, ready for his own stress relief on the weight machines. "Good morning," he called out and walked over to her. As he got nearer he realized why she didn't greet him, he could hear the music coming from her ear buds. He walked around the treadmill and waved a hand in her face.

"Hey." She pulled the buds from her ears, the music blasting inaudibly around them.

"You're going to go deaf with it that loud." He leaned on the machine. The memory of their chaste goodbye was still sitting awkwardly in his chest as it had all night. Looking at her now, so sweaty and strong he wondered how he'd had the self-control to do it. 

"Am not." She picked up the towel that was hanging over the handrail and wiped her face. She looked at him questioningly, not slowing her pace. She wasn't nearly done working out her stress and didn't feel like making conversation. Her mind was definitely not settled enough to deal with him. "Have a good work out," she finally said when he just kept staring at her.

Taking her dismissal in stride he winked at her and walked over to a weight machine right in her line of vision and settled in for a hard work out, putting on his Three Doors Down playlist on his iPod Nano.

For the next fifteen minutes they worked out silently in the room before anyone else came in.

"Hey, Scorpio." Dr. David Tyler walked over to Robin's treadmill where she was in the cool down phase. "Wanna spar?"

Still feeling stressed, Robin readily agreed, throwing Patrick a sideways look as she went to the mats and got ready. She was sort of embarrassed to be doing this in front of him, but thrilled at the same time. Maybe now, she mused, he'd try not to piss her off so much. 

Patrick, working his thighs looked on curiously, ignoring the twinge of jealousy at seeing the young doctor approach Robin. Then his eyes widened as he saw Robin and David start engaging in an intense kung fu fight. Patrick forgot all about his work out, as did the other two doctors in the room. For the others it was an exciting thing to see the smaller, female doctor holding her own, indeed more than holding her own, against the beefy doctor who she had just taken down. For Patrick it was a strange combination of arousing and unnerving.

With big grins the two doctors pressed their hands together and bowed. Robin was shaking out the stinging in their hands where she had blocked some direct shots when Patrick walked over to the mats to look down at her.

"You continue to surprise me, Scorpio."

She chuckled and looked up at him. "Not hard to do since you painted a picture of me in your mind without asking any questions when we first met," she pointed out.

"True, but didn't some of it hit its mark." As soon as the words left his mouth he remembered with an unaccustomed prick of guilt the tears in her eyes as he rendered his opinion of the emptiness of her life and wished he hadn't pressed the point so that he could be right. Not that such a flash of self-awareness and unaccustomed guilt would stop him from rendering his god-like pronouncements on her or anyone in the future. But he would, eventually, learn to sometimes apologize for them and not be so righteous or just bite his tongue on rare occasions. Very rare.

"I'll concede that in a limited way you were right." She saw his unease and it erased any lingering hurt that his words had caused her at the time.

Patrick grinned and teased a sweaty strand of hair off Robin's cheek where it had been plastered. "I didn't want to leave last night." Robin ducked her head and looked down at her shoes. "Am I going to have to assume here that you didn't want me to leave?" He queried huskily.

"You're going to anyway no matter what I say." Robin looked up and smirked at him. "Have a good work out." She couldn't quite bring herself to give him bold once over, but she was tempted.

"Will do, Ms. Bruce Lee." Patrick stepped back a step, but stayed close enough that she had to brush him as she walked past. He watched her go, a bemused expression on his face.

>>>>>>>>

"How is he?" Patrick walked into Noah's room, his hair still damp from his post workout shower.

"Vitals are stable. The patient is suffering internally but refuses pain meds. Obviously, he's comfortable suffering." Nurse Epiphany's observation was astute. Suffering was what Noah had consigned himself to ten years earlier when he lost his beloved wife on the operating table. He was conditioned now, didn't know how to live without. It colored all his opinions, his choices, for good or ill.

"Thanks. You might want to rethink your position on pain medication. You're not going to go quietly into the night. This is going to get a lot worse before you get what you want and die. First, you'll turn yellow -- bright yellow like one of those smiley faces from hell. Then when somebody grabs you like this, you'll bruise. You'll start bleeding from your gums, then your nose. Then your kidney will fail, which of course you'll need…"

"Will you stop?" Robin walked into the room and put her hand on Patrick's arm.

"I'm just giving the patient his prognosis. Acting like a doctor," he bit out, pointedly reminding her that he was acting on her advice, frustrated that once again he was not satisfying her expectations.

"I was a doctor before you were even a thought in anybody's mind. I know what's coming. So if you think you're scaring me into a liver transplant, you can forget it." Noah crossed his arms, looking like the five year old Robin had labeled him the evening before.

"Whatever. If you're determined to die a slow, agonizing death, I'm not going to stop you." Frustrated and angry at both Robin and his father he stalked out of the room.

'How can you be so unfair to your own flesh and blood?" Robin accused Noah before turning and rushing after Patrick. "Patrick, wait!"

He stopped in the middle of the hall, closed his eyes and scratched at the corner of his forehead like he often did when he was frustrated. "Don't even start with your lecture about how I need to keep trying with my father, OK? I'm trying to follow your advice, but nothing I do pleases you, Dr. Scorpio. I'm getting really sick of you trying to hold me up to your standards of the compassionate doctor and familial devotion."

"Patrick…."

"My father is not going to take a transplant. He's not even taking his pain medication. If he's determined to die a slow and painful death, I don't...I don't care anymore."

"Will you just please hear me out?" Robin knew he didn't mean what he said, about his father at least and she didn't scare or give up easy. He might hate her in the end, but as he had said, he needed her. He needed to stay strong when he couldn't. Otherwise he will regret it for the rest of his life.

"Like you'll give me a choice." Patrick made a frustrated noise and put his hands on his hips.

"Fine. When I first caught the virus and it looked like I wasn't going to make it, you told me that if I died, I would be the patient that haunted you. The one that you would never forget."

"Ok, well, that was just something I said in the moment of exhaustion and weakness. It wasn't an invitation for you to start dictating my life."

"I'm just trying to warn you. If Noah dies, he will be the one that haunts you, and it'll be a lot worse than me."

He just looked at her, not confirming or denying her words, but they both knew that he'd go back for another round.

>>>>>>

"So there you go. Inject the tranq into the I.V. And go to sleep. What I brought you there is an all-purpose problem-solver. No more struggling with excuses to refuse the transplant that actually makes sense. No more explaining to people how the brilliant dr. Drake ruined his career. You won't have to deal with the agony of dying by inches, and you'll go out the way you've chosen to live -- as a coward."

Patrick turned and walked out, grimacing as he heard his father throw the needle across the room as he left.

"Patrick?" Robin rushed after Patrick as his larger steps carried him forward much faster than she could easily catch up to.

"You stalking me now?" Patrick complained hypocritically since most of the time it was he who chased Robin all over the hospital.

"In case you're wondering, yes, I did hear you offer Noah a lethal dose of tranquilizers. Trying to help your father commit suicide was an interesting way to save his life."

"You just do not stop, do you? You just keep lecturing."

"No lectures this time."

"Oh, wow." Patrick put a hand to his chest in a parody of shock.

"Your tactics were unorthodox, but you may have convinced Noah to put up a fight."

Patrick visibly sighs with relief, both at the news and the seeming end to Dr. Scorpio's hammering of him.

He knows that he told her last night that he needed her. He knows that he gave her permission to keep at him even when he tells her he doesn't; he's given himself the insight that she already knew, that it was just a knee jerk reaction when he butt heads with her over it, but that doesn't stop him resenting it in the moment. Just then he's grateful both for her approval and that she hasn't given up on him despite his striking out at her.

He reaches a hand out and she slips her hand in his and they stand silently in the hallway looking at each other.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I gotta keep reminding myself it's a soap. It's supposed to be melodramatic.

>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One – 14  
>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_And though I can't be with you tonight  
And know my heart is by your side_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>

After standing silently with Robin for awhile in the hallway, Patrick had gone back again and again trying to convince his father to fight to live, but even as Noah's liver failed and his time shortened he remained steadfastly determined to die; his son remained just as a steadfast that he would live and Robin remained as steadfast as Patrick had asked her to be. She kept urging him on despite his resistance and his seeming ingratitude. As the days wore on and Noah's condition deteriorated there was no time or energy for anymore close moments, no more tender handholding, no stolen kisses. It was almost as if they had never been on the verge of something, except for that fact that Patrick, for all his resistance, always took Robin's advice and went back in fortified for another shot at changing his father's mind.

And then Noah slipped into a coma, putting into the effect the power of attorney and living wills that Noah had put in his son's name giving Patrick the opportunity to change his father's mind for him. That was when Robin discovered that Patrick had done a lot more than just try and convince his father to put his name on the donor list.

Shortly before Noah had slipped into a coma Robin had gone into the records room, hesitating for a split second as she always did now before entering, to check the liver donor registry. To see if Patrick convinced Noah to go back on the list how soon he would be able to get to the top; maybe to even sign him onto the list herself if it came down to that, though she wasn't thinking very directly on that point yet. When she signed onto the database and was shocked by the first entry, "Dr. Noah Drake, Surgeon" was already at the top of the list.

"Patrick," she whispered when she realized she had underestimated him. She leaned back in the chair and rubbed her hands over her face.

She was tired, more than in body, also in spirit. The fight to keep Noah alive was eating at her almost as much as it was Patrick and her pain wasn't just for the father, it was also for the son. The son who, she couldn't deny anymore, she had formed very deep feelings for. But just as she felt herself falling for him, he seemed to be pulling away from her. She knew it was just that he was caught up with his father's situation, but the knowing wasn't enough to settle the chaos in her head or the growing ache in her heart. She was scared, terrified, that she was going to get hurt; but she was even more terrified what would happen to Patrick if Noah didn't make it.

With a sigh she checked her watch and decided that she was going to go take a break and get something to eat before she tried to figure out how to back Patrick up in what he was doing. And maybe, just maybe, begin to deal with her own father before it really was too late for her as well.

>>>>>>>

"Still lurking in the hospital halls?" Robin came up behind Nikolas Cassadine who was obviously coming from the NICU.

"Hey Robin. Carly let me hold John today." He rubbed his hands together and smiled.

"Did Jax change his mind?" Her stomach sank when Nikolas shook his head. "She has an angle, Nikolas. She's not doing it from the goodness of her heart, she barely has one."

"I know and I don't care. He's such a…I can't even explain what it was like to hold him. He's getting so much stronger. Carly says they might be moving him out of the NICU soon."

"I'm glad to hear that, Nikolas. But be careful." She shook her head. "I don't know why you men insist on getting involved with her."

"I'm a Cassadine, Carly doesn't worry me. Hell, she messes with me my grandmother might take care of her." He and Robin shared a ghoulish grin, then Nikolas frowned and leaned in closer. "You look tired."

"I am tired. I'm just going to go get something to eat and get something to bring back to Patrick."

"I'll come with you. How are things going?"

"Not well." Robin sighed and unconsciously leaned into Nikolas when he put his arm around her as they walked down the hall. "Noah is slipping away and it's killing Patrick." Nikolas was silent, prompting Robin to look up at him.

"I was just wondering who's taking care of you while you take care of Patrick and his father."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me, Nikolas." Robin pulled out of his arm and looked up at him. They stood facing each other in the hallway. "I'm a grown woman and a doctor."

"Who happens to be human and looking more tired than she should. I'm worried about you, Robin. I don't want you to get sick because of this." His last words were whispered as he had a hard time getting them out. He had some idea of how much Robin hated to be reminded of her HIV status and any limitations it might place on her. But since Robin knew he was only coming from a place of caring she didn't get upset.

"Nikolas, I appreciate your concern, but I assure you that I am taking care of myself. I just need to get a good night sleep tonight and some food. So how about you buy me lunch?"

"You promise you'll get some sleep?" Nikolas leaned down in her face.

"I promise."

"Good." Nikolas put his arm around Robin's shoulder and they went to get some food.

Neither saw Patrick standing in the doorway watching them with a heated expression on his face.

>>>>>>>

The door was ajar and Patrick sat hunched forward talking to his father. Robin hesitated, wondering if she should step back and leave them alone, but the tears evident in Patrick's voice held her riveted to that spot. As he spoke something inside her moved, changed; this was the Patrick she had seen during the epidemic, the first glance she'd seen underneath the tough guy act of something truly worthwhile, amazing.

"Dad, dad, dad. Determined to be the bane of my existence till the bitter end. You won't take a transplant because you don't think you deserve it. Won't take part of my liver, either, because you don't want to risk my health or you can't stand the thought of owing me that much. Expect everybody to just sit around, twiddle their thumbs, and watch you die. Well, I have a problem with that. See, I save lives. That's what I do and you can only blame yourself for that. You gave me the love for healing, a role model of sensitivity and brilliance. I didn't get much of the sensitivity part, but you have to admit, I took your brilliance and raised you one. What I'm trying to say is you gave me my life, twice. And now you expect me to not try and save yours? I've never lost a patient, not once. You're not going to be my first. I am not going to let you haunt me."

Robin closed her eyes as he repeated her own words to him. Sometimes she had wondered if she was getting through. She opened her eyes and found him looking at her, tear tracks on his face. He didn't look angry, or surprised to find her there. He said nothing, just turned and looked back at his comatose father.

A minute went by, then another and he still didn't turn away from Noah so Robin walked into the room. "I brought you a sandwich. You should eat something."

"Thanks." He didn't look at her so she put it on the side table. "You should get some sleep. You look like hell."

"So do you." Robin reached a hand out, but pulled away before she put it on his shoulder. His anger was palpable, she thought it was just about Noah, but she was wrong.

"How about you take off the Florence Nightingale cap for one evening and get some sleep, Robin."

Robin stood for a moment. "Will you look at me?" He turned and looked at her. As their eyes caught his shoulders drooped and he leaned back in his chair and licked his bottom lip and looked away and the back again. "You should eat something and get some sleep, Patrick." He just nodded and looked chagrined. She shrugged and turned to leave.

"Wait." He reached out and caught her wrist. She turned back to face him.

>>>>>>>>


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I just can't help myself sometimes, I like happy Scrubs. And then I restrain myself. Thanks for all the lovely feedback.

>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One – 14  
>>>>>>>>>>>>   
_And though I can't be with you tonight  
And know my heart is by your side_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>

"How about you take off the Florence Nightingale cap for one evening and get some sleep, Robin."

Patrick's words betrayed more than grief and anger about his father's condition, there was an edge that even Robin, one of the most patient and understanding of people, couldn't miss as being directed at her and not the situation in general; one that Patrick, for all his denial, knew even as he acted like a petulant child was directly caused by seeing the closeness of Robin and Nikolas in the hall. It wasn't just jealousy though, it was the concern on Nikolas' face that had been unmistakable and it eat at him as a man and doctor that he had been leaning so heavily on Robin and not thinking about her limits.

Robin stood for a moment. "Will you look at me?" He turned and looked at her. As their eyes caught his shoulders drooped and he leaned back in his chair and licked his bottom lip and looked away and then back again. "You should eat something and get some sleep, Patrick." He just nodded and looked chagrined. She shrugged and turned to leave.

"Wait." He reached out and caught her wrist. She turned back to face him. "I'm sorry. I just.."

"Patrick it's okay, you don't need to explain." Robin tried to pull her wrist back.

"No. I do. Will you stop struggling?" He gave her a lopsided smile and let go when she nodded. "I saw you in the hall with Nikolas, it bothered me."

"He's just a friend." Robin wasn't one to play games, however, she couldn't resist asking, "Are you admitting that you were jealous?"

Patrick pursed his lips and looked at her sideways. "Some people might call it that."

Robin crossed her arms and smiled gently. "You don't need to be."

"Are _you_ admitting something, Robin?" He opened his palm on his thigh and motioned to it with his chin.

She shrugged.

He motioned with his head again.

She rolled her eyes and stepped back to him and took his proffered hand, which required her to step close enough for him to pull her onto his lap. "Patrick!" Robin protested softly. "Someone might see."

"And?" he prompted.

"And I'm a doctor, you're a doctor. We work here."

"Not in here. In here I'm a visitor and you're my, what, friend? Girlfriend?" His eyes sparkled at her.

"Girlfriend?" Robin broke out into a big grin, too happy to point out that one was supposed to agree to the status rather than be anointed.

"I think you like that. Yeah, girlfriend." He stroked her hair and buried his face in her neck. "I'm sorry about the last couple of days."

"Don't be." She played with his hair, wondering if this would be one of those things that he'd say had been said in a moment of exhaustion and weakness and decided she wasn't going to put much stock into it until they could really talk about it. "You need to get your sleep."

"So do you, Robin. I don't want you get sick taking care of us." Somehow, hearing the same thing from Patrick that Nikolas said felt vastly different. It hit her somewhere deeper and warm tendrils of affection spread through her body. She softened against him.

"You too. Why don't you go lie down in the doctor's lounge? Or…" She paused before continuing. "We can both go to my apartment. It's only five minutes away."

"Are you inviting me to sleep with you, Dr. Scorpio?" Patrick bounced his knee and teased.

"To sleep, and eat. Nothing more."

"Not even a little more?" he whispered in her ear, sending shivers through her, but she bluffed and rolled her eyes. "Down boy."

>>>>>>>>

"No more flowers?" Patrick pouted when he walked into the apartment and looked around, one hand on his hip, the other holding the sandwich Robin had gotten him and his gym bag over his shoulder. Technically, Nikolas had insisted on buying it, but she wasn't going to tell Patrick that, thinking quite rightly that he would toss it if he knew. Robin was feeling quite pleased that Patrick was jealous and that he thought of her as his girlfriend. The last few days of working together to save Noah had seemingly erased the differences that had stood between them before, although they would eventually rear their ugly head in order to be dealt with.

"The flowers were a loss last time I was here." She didn't mention that she had saved a couple of the flowers and had them drying on top of the fridge.

Patrick put the carton down on the coffee table and settled himself on my couch, both of them secretly liking how he made himself at home. Robin went to the kitchen and got them both glasses of water.

"I'm going to go shower and change."

"It would save water if we showered together." Patrick smirked at her. Instead of responding to his teasing she looked at him seriously. "Hey, I was just kidding, mostly." He wondered if he had stepped over some invisible line.

"I saw Noah's name on the donor list," Robin said quietly.

Patrick pursed his lips and looked up at her. "It's a good thing he said he wanted the transplant. You heard him say it, right?" His voice was hoarse, full of hope and test.

The two doctors stared at each other for a long moment before Robin said what she had already decided the moment she was Noah's name at the top of the list. "Thank god Noah agreed to stay on the list." They looked at each other for another moment before Robin walked out of the living room.

When Patrick heard the shower turn on for once his thoughts didn't stray to sex, something a lot more profound was moving through him. One that displaced his hunger and he leaned back on the couch and dropped his head back.

>>>>>>>>

A few hours later the alarm went off, waking the two doctors who lay curled up in Robin's bed together. Patrick had been asleep in the bed before Robin even got out of the shower and sometime during the few hours he had allowed himself he had gravitated towards her, held her. Semi-awake now he reached over her and reset the clock. "Go back to sleep. I set it to give you another couple of hours."

She mumbled incoherently and nodded back off. He looked down at her and softly stroked her hair off her cheek before rolling off the other side of the bed and going to shower and change into a fresh set of scrubs.

>>>>>>>>

"What do we got?" Patrick rushed over to the incoming gurney, slipping into surgeon mode with no hesitation. This was what he did, who he was. Sitting at a bedside, helpless and worrying was outside his comfort zone, this was something he could do.

"A gunshot wound to the head. They couldn't intubate him. He's hypotensive," Monica rattled off the facts.

"Okay, we need to hyperventilate him to reduce cerebral edema. Keep the head of the bed raised 15-20 degrees and call me when the C.T. Results are in. Also, prep the O.R."

"Good, good," Monica agreed.

"I want to operate as soon as possible." The patient needed it and so did he.

"You got it."

"No, you can't do that." Robin had arrived back at the hospital just behind the paramedics, her steps faltered only a split second when she saw who it was they were bringing in. Her eyes shot to Maxie standing nearby looking scared and her mind flashed to what her cousin might go through. "It's too soon to operate. His blood pressure needs to be stabilized. And we need to start him on Manatol to reduce the swelling in his brain."

"Obviously, you didn't hear me the first time. I'm operating as soon as possible." His voice was full of arrogance and dismissal, back to full surgeon mode.

"Obviously, you didn't hear me. He's not stable." As ever, Robin was undeterred by their professional differences.

"Look, we should make a notification, but on Jesse's chart, there's no next of kin," Patrick went on as if she hadn't spoken. He heard her, he just didn't agree and knew better than to try and argue with her. So he found a tactic through the disagreement - an arbiter.

"Well, Maxie is closest to him." She didn't want her baby cousin to have to make these decisions, but also knew she had the right and the need to do it.

"We should talk to her." Patrick turned and headed towards Maxie.

"Let me handle this." Robin slipped in front of Patrick as they approached her cousin. Patrick was a brilliant surgeon, but he sucked in the compassion department. "Hey. How are you holding up?" Robin sat down and took her cousin's hand.

"Not real well. Scared."

"Yeah. I know. We have to ask you something," Robin spoke gently, Patrick hovering over her. She could feel the tension radiating from his body, but she refused to rush, refused to be anything but clear.

"Okay." Maxie looked between Patrick and Robin.

"Who would be in a position to make decisions for Jesse?"

"What kind of decision?" Scared and confused, tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Look, Jesse needs to be operated on. Dr. Scorpio wants to wait till he's more stable. If we don't operate, he's going to end up a vegetable." In this, Robin and Patrick would probably never see eye to eye – the need to cut versus the need to wait. Waiting was never something Patrick was good at, life and death decisions something he did with less ease than he'd previously thought, but still something in his comfort zone. Therefore, he had a natural expectation that others could do it too or leave it to him to decide.

"Waiting means less risk to Jesse's life."

"Well, can you promise me if we wait, he's going to be okay?"

"No, I can't. I'm sorry, I can't make that guarantee."

"Then operate on him as soon as possible."

Patrick nodded and turned to go get ready. Robin flinched as she felt his warmth leave her back. She stayed and held Maxie's hand and tried to find words that might be of comfort.

>>>>>>>

"I need to talk to you." Robin walked into the locker room and found Patrick staring into his locker. It unnerved her, ratcheting up the worry she had come in to discuss with him.

"It'll have to wait. I'm getting ready for surgery." He threw something into his locker and continued to get ready.

"You're not doing it," Robin said imperiously. Normally, Robin was the kind of person who made her pleas with compassion and understanding, but those tools didn't work when dealing with Patrick Drake. Neither did barking orders, but she was desperate to protect him from himself. She had seen Jesse's scans, his vitals, the odds that he would make it through the surgery were very low. She had also seen something that would make this more than Patrick's first O.R. failure if he did indeed fail.

"Are you a broken record?" Patrick's question was more rhetorical than anything. Indeed, Robin Scorpio often was like a broken record to him.

"Here." Robin handed him the print out she had hurriedly made.

"What's this?" Patrick asked, assuming it wasn't a love letter. Though, he thought that might be nice for a change.

"A list of alternative surgeons."

"I'm the only doctor in this hospital that can do the surgery." It wasn't arrogance when it was true in Patrick's opinion.

"I saw Jesse's chart and so did you. His blood type matches Noah's. He could be a match. He could be a liver donor for your father."

"So what are you saying?" As if it wasn't obvious and didn't infuriate him that she could even think it.

"If you operate and Jesse doesn't survive, it won't look like an accident."

"I asked for your support with my father, I didn't give you permission to butt into my professional decisions. I get it, we have opposing views on treatment and I get that you don't think that much of me as a man and clearly there's nothing I can do to change that, so butt the hell out Dr. Scorpio!" Patrick slammed his locker closed and bent down to tie his sneakers.

Robin stood stunned for a moment, blinked her eyes and shook her head and then turned to leave. After the door closed behind her Patrick stood up, licked his top lip and closed his eyes. What the hell, he wondered, did he do to deserve Robin Scorpio. Right then he was in too much turmoil to mean that in a particularly nice way.

>>>>>


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: OMG today rocked, and the new promo that played during AMC…THUD! I think I don't need to write this story, TIIC are doing just fine!

>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 15  
>>>>>>>>>

"So what are you saying?" Patrick's chest ached as he looked at her. He had never spent so much energy on a woman, never cared so much about what a woman or anyone thought of him before and it seemed like no matter what he did she didn't cut him a break. He thought, maybe, just maybe, he had inched up in her estimation since the bet, but apparently he had been wrong.

"If you operate and Jesse doesn't survive, it won't look like an accident."

Fury swept through his body. "I asked for your support with my father, I didn't give you permission to butt into my professional decisions. I get it, we have opposing views on treatment and I get that you don't think that much of me as a man and clearly there's nothing I can do to change that, so butt the hell out Dr. Scorpio!" Patrick slammed his locker closed and bent down to tie his sneakers, effectively dismissing her.

Robin stood stunned for a moment, blinked her eyes and shook her head and then turned to leave, she hesitated for a moment at the door, but when he didn't stop her she left. Pushing her stung feelings down she went to the records room to find another way to help him.

Still, for all of Robin's repression and attempt to pass off what he said as heat of the moment for both of them the exchange only scratched at the issues that still remained unresolved between them.

For him, his mistaken belief that she didn't think highly of him as a person, man and now doctor, which was completely understandable given all that she has said to him in the past. Given her still guarded manner around him.

For her, it was the inability to trust that he will be able to step down his temper and communicate his issues to her in an adult manner. That she won't always find herself having other women, maybe even Carly, thrown at her when she displeases him – as was bound to happen a lot given their differing points of view both personally and professionally.

A few kisses and some close moments wasn't enough to chase away all the reasons that Robin had initially given him the brush off that night in the cafeteria.

These issues, though, would have to wait until a more appropriate time to be dealt with. It could only be hoped that by the time things settled down the damage these two would do to their burgeoning relationship would not be too deep to mend – or more accurately, would they put aside their pride and their walls and be vulnerable with each other in order to mend it.

Then again, these might just be the circumstances that force that on them.

Eventually.

>>>>>

"I solved the problem." Robin walked into the locker room, past a suspiciously hung over looking Dr. Lee.

"Good for you. What problem?" He almost smiled at her sheer audacity.

"Jesse Beaudry's surgery."

"You mean, you removed the bullet from his brain?" Patrick mocked.

"No, the next best thing -- I found someone that could. Dr. Miller from Mercy. Well,..."

"Are you kidding me right now? Old, 'about to retire if we're lucky' Phil?" Patrick rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"No, actually, his daughter."

"Hey, big guy." Into the locker room walked what everyone would assume would be Patrick Drake's dream woman. Bold, gorgeous and clearly easy – not starting the conversation about the surgery and the issues that Robin had spoken to her of to get her there – but about Patrick's notable absence from the party scene and her determination to get him into bed. It was more important for her to check the lay of the land between Patty and this woman than to talk about the injured cop. It was a clear insight to the kind of doctor and woman she was.

"Well, well, well. Lovely Gwen," Patrick gushed, all the time his eyes constantly flitting towards Robin. It was her turn to be jealous and he wanted to stick it to her for not believing in him and Robin didn't disappoint - the hurt on her face as he continued was clear.

"I haven't seen you in a while." Gwen pitched her voice low and seductive, uncaring who heard.

"Well, between the epidemic and some personal stuff with my father, I've kind of gotten out of the sports bar routine." As he spoke Patrick realized that he hadn't even really missed the former mainstay of his off hours life. His eyes strayed back to Robin hovering nearby.

"Hmm." She tilted her head and looked into his gorgeous chocolate eyes. Could Patrick Drake be otherwise involved? Perhaps with the fiery Dr. Scorpio who insisted she rush over to perform the surgery in this hottie's place because he was too busy taking care of his ailing father?

"But my schedule has cleared up nicely, at least for the moment. Would you like to take advantage of the lull?" he said, slipping into his habitual banter.

"You know it." Gwen grinned.

"Hmm. How about Rusty's on Wednesday, same time?" His eyes were on Robin the entire time he said it. He was so going to kill her for bringing Gwen into his hospital.

"I'll be there." The two surgeons grinned at each other, one mistakenly believing they were in perfect synchronicity once again.

Dr.-cum-Party Girl Gwen Miller had no way to know that Patrick was using his charm to avoid giving her any personal information – just as he did with everyone. Like it did with everyone but Robin and his father it worked. He had effectively eliminated most of her wondering about Dr. Scorpio's place in his life and given her hope for the future. She was certain she would see Patrick back in the game now that she'd flashed her blatant sexuality at him and then maybe she could finally get a turn. For some reason, despite his reputation in NYC and for all his flirting he hadn't taken her or anyone she knew home with him.

"Great. Now, if you could just give me a minute with the impetuous Dr. Scorpio?" His eyes immediately tracked back to Robin standing in the shadows and he looked almost gleefully at her.

"Sure." She shrugged and left to go find her drinking buddy Dr. Lee and see how she was feeling this morning.

"All right! How did you know Gwen was exactly what I needed to start the day?" Patrick smirked at Robin, enjoying Robin's obvious upset. If she was going to think the worst of him, he figured what the hell else did he have to lose than to show off his social life, however neglected it had been lately.

"You know, I should have known that your technique spread throughout the halls and linen closets and cafeteria…" Robin hissed.

"Gwen is a great time. She has an amazing ability to party all night long, and in the morning, wake up and be a great surgeon, but not nearly as good as me. And she's never performed this procedure. I'm not about to let her practice on my patient." And it was exactly those reasons that he never had more than a hormonal reaction to the woman. Drinking surgeons were not exactly high on his list for obvious reasons.

Robin rolled her eyes and tried again. This time much slower. "Why won't you listen to me? You cannot operate on Jesse. It is a major conflict of interest. If your father doesn't get the liver transplant, he will die. Jesse could be a match. If Jesse dies on the operating table, you're going to be under the kind of scrutiny that I guarantee you won't like." She was, in fact, certain that it would be more than Patrick could take. His first O.R. failure would be hard enough to deal with given his god-complex, but coupled with his father's condition she truly worried for him.

"I am the best chance that that cop has to live. I'm not going to turn away just because it might end up badly for me. Anyway, it's a moot point, because I've never lost a patient, and I don't plan on starting today. So why don't you go out there and tell Gwen thanks for coming over here, but you're not going to need her." Patrick turned away.

Robin didn't stop to think why he didn't want to go tell the woman himself, though Patrick said the words very deliberately, hoping once again that she would realize how much he cared for her. Patrick was still a moron when it came to communicating with women, or communicating full stop. He was just as much a master of mixed signals as Robin was.

"Fine. I'm observing. You can't stop me from that." Robin stormed out before he could try.

>>>>>>>>

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. Patrick stared at his hands as he mindlessly followed Robin out of the O.R. to tell Jesse's loved ones….He couldn't even think it.

This moment was always the same. Utter elation followed by delivering happy news to grateful friends and family. The tears, they were always of joy. And he went on with utter certainty that he was the best and would always be the best. He couldn't look Robin in the eyes, didn't want to see her accusation and disgust. It would be hard enough to face her cousin.

He walked off the elevator, his steps slowed enough to finally match Robin's shorter ones. He looked up, unable to form words and looking into Maxie's young eyes.

"It's bad, isn't it? He's gone?"

He started to speak and his voice broke. Finally, he pushed the words out. "I'm sorrier than you know." For himself, for her, for Jesse.

"There was too much damage to Jesse's brain for Patrick or any other surgeon to fix. He's on a ventilator right now because he is an organ donor. But technically, he's –"

Patrick knew she was speaking, but her words were an indistinct murmur through the haze surrounding him, pressing down on him. He watched Robin walk off with her arm around her cousin and wondered what the hell he was supposed to now.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: It's my story and I'll do what I like! Hee. Thanks for all the feedback, honestly, in terms of Patrick I'm just writing what I see, I'm not making a lot up about him. I adore him, he's a wonderful, imperfect man.

>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One – 16  
>>>>>>>>   
_And I breathe you into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today_  
>>>>>>>>

She defended him. She turned her fiery, stand for what she believes in values on and did it for me, he thought to himself, still stupefied and incredibly touched by what she had done in front of everyone. He could hear her words echoing in his head as he followed her around the Nurse's Station.

_As soon as the surgery began, it was clear that he wasn't going to make it, but Patrick tried anyway. There was no negligence, let alone murder. _

He couldn't take his eyes off of her, even after Lucky let him go and the crowd dispersed. On autopilot again he followed her around the Nurse's Station. "Since when do you give me the benefit of the doubt?" Had he, he wondered, been wrong about what she thought about him? About what he had assumed she had been thinking – that he had lost Jesse on the table on purpose? No, he told himself firmly, he wasn't going to fault himself for being wrong here when she was so damned guarded.

"Well, a month ago I would've believed that you'd tank a surgery to give your father a transplant, but I know better now." She was totally exaggerating. She never would have thought that, if anything she would have thought his ego as a surgeon would never let him lose a patient, not even to play god for his father. Heck, back then he might not have even tried to fight for his father like he is now. She said what she did because she was trying to be careful, to not be too vulnerable to him and still stand for him.

"Don't tell me I'm inching my way up in your estimation?" Even as he asked the question Patrick wondered how the hell he had gotten to where he was asking a question like that. Was he or was he not the most arrogant bastard on the planet? Did he not always assume that everyone, especially Robin Scorpio, worshipped the ground he walked on, even if she wouldn't admit it? The feeling of admitted insecurity was not sitting well with Patrick, he was completely outside his comfort zone, but he had just lost his first patient and where he might have reacted with anger and bravado even as recently as a day ago, he found himself desperately craving some kind of validation from this small woman in front of him. He wanted that passion turned on for him again. God, he just wanted her.

"Well, recently, I jumped to some wrong conclusions about -- um -- a bet -- not my finest moment. But I'm learning not to rush to judgment about you." Her delivery was casual, almost humorous, but inside she felt anything but casual. Her feelings for this man were so close to the surface, so close to spilling out and leaving her defenseless.

It was right there on the tip of his tongue, a quip and snappy come on. A tease to break the tension that was bubbling inside him while he stood in front of this seemingly imperturbable woman, but he just didn't have the heart. Jesse Beaudry was dead and it happened in his hands. His mouth snapped shut and he looked down at his hands. Hands that had never before failed him and even though he knew the surgery was a waste of time the moment he opened, he had tried anyway, thought somehow that he could pull it off.

Patrick's reaction startled Robin, but before she could say anything Lucky Spencer walked over and she was immediately on the defensive. Unconsciously, she stepped between Lucky and Patrick and looked up at her old friend. Patrick was pulled from his reverie and observed her actions and then looked up at Lucky, but Lucky wasn't looking at him. Patrick moved forward in case he needed to jump to Robin's defense this time.

"I'm not here to hassle, Patrick." He looked at the doctor then, not ready to apologize, but there was conciliation was in his eyes. "I just got a call, there's been a shooting." He looked down at Robin as he spoke.

"Uncle Mac?" Robin gasped and covered her mouth. Patrick put a hand on her shoulder and looked at Lucky.

"No, no, he's fine. There was a shooting at the Metropolitan Hotel." Lucky ran his fingers through his hair wondering why the hell he should be doing anything but partying about the news he was about to relay, but for some unfathomable reason Robin Scorpio actually seemed to like the people he'd dedicated his life to taking down; those who had cost his partner his life. At that thought, his features hardened. "Sonny Corinthos was shot and killed on the scene. He was with Emily Quartermaine, she's fine, freaked out but unharmed. Jason killed the shooter. It was probably retaliation for the attempt on Diego Alcazar that killed my partner." Lucky's voice was a cold hiss.

Robin's brain processed the information at lightening speed and she pushed her emotional reaction aside. "Sonny's dead?" she confirmed, wondering in the back of her mind how she would feel about that when she had time to consider it. "And Jason?"

"I have the pleasure of going to arrest him." Lucky didn't censor his words or the gleeful look on his face. There was no way the mini-mobster was going to get away with it this time. His mind already rattling off charges – murder, concealed weapons violations, voyeurism? Nikolas could deal with Emily he decided and he made a mental note to take his brother along even though it was against protocol.

Robin blew out a breath and blinked. Brenda. She needed to call Brenda. "Right." She said absently. "Thanks for letting me know." She had forgotten Patrick's presence until he moved next to her.

"You all right?" he asked when Lucky stalked off.

She looked up at him, amazed that he could be asking about how she was doing given all he was dealing with. She had been so wrong about this man. It, he, tugged at her heart. She wrapped her hand around one of the hands she knew he had been looking at like they were alien life forms. She couldn't help the wry smile that curved her lips. "I'm fine, but I need to go call someone. How about I meet you at your father's room?"

>>>>>>>>

Robin walked into an empty office and sat down hard. When she was walking away she had heard Dr. Keifer tell Patrick that his father had been approved for Jesse's liver and after sharing a brief look of gratitude with Robin Patrick had rushed off to be with his father before they took him for surgery. She had been tempted to follow, but she knew he needed some time alone so she decided to call Brenda as she had planned although it was unlikely the news of Sonny's death would reach her all the way in Rome any time soon.

Sonny was dead. Robin searched herself for a moment looking for how she really felt about it. There was sadness, shock, worry for how it would impact his children and, god, who knew how crazy Carly would get now, but there wasn't the tearing pain she was used to when someone she cared about died. She realized now that she had grieved over Sonny a long time ago. He would always hold a place in her heart because of what he meant to Stone and who he was for her after Stone died, but he hadn't been a part of her life in a long time. Nor, she could admit now, had he been a particularly good man, not like her Uncle Mac and, god help her, even her father. They gave something back to the world, didn't just take from it. Squelching those useless thoughts she worried about how Brenda would react. It seemed like Brenda had gotten over Sonny a long time ago, but when someone died all bets were off for the grief it caused.

She dialed her calling card number and then Brenda's mobile and waited for her to pick up, calculating in her head the time difference in Rome. When Brenda picked up on the third ring she was surprised.

"Brenda Barrett!" Was the perky greeting.

"Bren, it's me Robin." Whatever reason for the call, it felt really great to hear her best friend's far away voice. "I have some news. Are you sitting down?"

"You're getting married to that hunk Patrick Drake!" Brenda guessed and laughed.

"How do you know he's a hunk?" The mention of Patrick and marriage momentarily distracted her. "Never mind. That's not it. Brenda, Sonny was killed today." She said the last words carefully, softly. There was only silence on the other end of the phone. It worried Robin. "Brenda, are you all right?"

"I wasn't sitting down, I am now. Wow."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Brenda said the words as if she was testing them out and was surprised to find them true. "I'm shocked, but not really. I guess I expected it years ago and it never happened and now it's a shock. But don't worry, I am not still in love with him. I can hardly believe I ever was sometimes." Her tone of voice left no room for doubt.

"Are you going to come back for the funeral?" Robin asked.

"I don't know. Carly would definitely freak out. Not sure if that would be entertaining or too pathetic to deal with. I could come to town and make sure that you hook up with that Drake guy you're secretly in love with. How is he doing?"

"He just lost his first patient and his father is about to have a liver transplant tonight, from that very patient. Not well." Robin rubbed her forehead. "The patient was Maxie's boyfriend Jesse and surgery couldn't have saved him, but Patrick tried anyway and now it doesn't look good for him. And Maxie is so heartbroken, Bren. I wish there was something I could do for her, but I know there isn't."

"I'm sure you'll be strong for both of them. Maybe I should come out there and be strong for you?" Brenda said.

Robin smiled. "If you come, Bren, and I want you to, but there's something you should know. Jax is involved with Carly."

"What!" Brenda screeched over the phone. "That stupid idiot! I'll be there! I'll call you with my flight details. You stay strong for Patrick and Maxie – and you tell him you love him. I bet you anything he's worth it. Ciao!"

Robin stared bemusedly at the phone. It would be good to see Brenda, even under these circumstances.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Some scenes are so perfect you don't want to mess with them. But then you do anyway. It was a tough call on who to kill in the last part, or rather who not to kill. So glad most of you agree with my contract cleaning.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 17  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Robin sat in the dark room for a moment after she hung up with Brenda.

She hadn't mentioned Jason's arrest to Brenda, but it was in the forefront of her mind now. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she tried to picture what kind of life Jason would have without Sonny. A life taking care of Crazy Carly and her children, most likely.

No matter what had happened she would always care about him, love the boy he had been to her once, even if no one else could understand that. Remembering the bloodthirsty satisfaction in Lucky's eyes she had a momentary worry that Jason would go to prison, that would be something he could definitely not survive, but then she dismissed it. Between Justus and the Quatermaines she was sure they would keep him out of prison.

Well, whatever he did unless he had a medical problem it really wasn't her concern and definitely out of her control.

Right now she needed to be there for Patrick and for Noah.

>>>>>>

"I was trying to remember the last time I told you I loved you. I think it was the Christmas before Mom died. I've let a lot of other emotions get in the way, but there's no room for them now. All that matters is that we're here and I'm not letting you die. Because I love you and I'm proud to be your son."

She stood in the doorway listening as Patrick's shared his most private feelings with his comatose father. She felt she that Patrick would hate for anyone to hear him, but she couldn't tear herself away. His words tore at her, ripped off protective layers and laid her bare. This man was more beautiful than any man she had ever known, she didn't know how she could have ever doubted him like she did just a handful of days ago.

"You were my hero when I was a kid, Dad, what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I still see that man in you. And I know you're going to be angry when you get out of this and you see what I've done. But if you live it's going to be worth it."

She closed her eyes and took a breath. For the first time in a long time she felt she was exactly where she needed to be and doing what she needed to do.

She opened her eyes to see Patrick looking back at her. He had obviously been crying and he wasn't trying to hide it from her or asking her to leave. If anything, he seemed comforted that she was there. Slowly, she stepped into the room and walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. When his hand reached up and settled his own on top of hers a tear slid loose down her cheek.

>>>>>>>

"Nothing to do but wait," Patrick said as he watched them wheel his Father towards the O.R. He sounded tired, almost desolate instead of the relieved one would have expected as his father finally went in for a life-saving transplant. He turned without looking at her and walked back into his father's room and settled on the bed.

Robin walked into the room after him and sat on the bed next to him. She looked at him, hunched over and tearful and wondered if she was intruding. "Mind if I wait with you?"

Patrick's breath hitched and he mouthed a "no", but still did not look at her. Robin waited while he gathered himself. After a while, he sat up straighter and looked at her.

"This is -- this is different for you, right? Usually you're the one doing the surgery, not sitting around waiting for the results." It was inane, but the silence needed to be broken. There were hours yet to go. 

Patrick appreciated her effort, more so appreciated that she was there with him. It moved to him to talk about what he never did, his mother. He knew she would understand and even had a right to know what had led them all there. He couldn't get it out of his head that his father was having this surgery because of her. Without her intervention his father would have died drunk in a bar somewhere and he would have heard about it after the fact. Probably called to identify the body. The time he had wasted sat ill in his stomach.

"The last time I was in the I.C.U. was when my Mom died. She kissed me goodbye and told me not to worry, Dad would pull her through. Dad was there and promised me that Mom would be okay." His voice was raspy as he pulled the words from a deep place he rarely looked in; he didn't look at her but knew she was listening. "She was weak but lucid. The odds were against her, but Dad was the best neurosurgeon in the City. They wheeled her away and he went with her, and I just waited. Time felt like it dragged on forever. And it was taking too long, I knew there was something wrong, and -- finally the assisting surgeon came out and told me that they lost my Mom on the table."

"Your dad couldn't face you."

Patrick nodded, implicitly understanding she was empathizing with his father, not asking a question. She always just seemed to get his father. "Walked out of the O.R., Crossed the street to a bar, started drinking and never stopped."

"Well, Noah did find the strength to get sober. And thanks to this transplant, he'll have a second chance at life."

God, he thought to himself. She always finds the bright side. Why did she bother? Why was she there? It moved him and he had to ask. "Why do you care so much?" He covered his mouth and turned his head slightly to look at her.

"I happen to like and admire your father." Her response dredged up an inner chuckle in Patrick. She was, indeed, still president of his father's fan club. When the hell was she going to be president of his? "No other reason?" he asked, fishing.

Robin knew that this time she was the one hiding behind a flip answer. He had just opened up his barrier and it was time for her to let down her own guard in return. "All right, even though you infuriate me most of the time, I can admit that you're a brilliant doctor."

Patrick sighed. Today of all days he needed to hear that and to hear that from her.

Robin's voice gentled. "And underneath all that posturing I think lies a really decent human being." More than decent, she admitted to herself, beautiful, caring. A true healer. The next words were a whisper. "I'm glad that you didn't have to be a living donor for your father. If something had gone wrong, you could've died."

"Are you saying you'd be sorry if you lost me?" Her answering smile said more than words could have. "The surgery's going to take hours. Want to grab a coffee?"

Robin smiled and stood up and held out her hand. He was always asking her out, she was glad he hadn't ever really given up on her. Before they could say another word Epiphany's footsteps sounded behind them.

"What happened?" Patrick tensed.

"Your father's still alive. The surgeon will be here shortly to explain – "

"Epiphany, you know more than the surgeon. Tell me what happened." Robin moved closer to him.

"You know that the R.N.'s are not supposed to update family members on surgery, Dr. Drake." She mentally rolled her eyes that she even bothered to say it. It was why she had come in there, to give them time to get going on the backup plan she knew they had.

Patrick was about to try and bully it out of her, reacting immediately to the words and not reading the situation, when Robin stepped in. "Come on. We wouldn't dream of asking you to bend the rules. Now, what are you not supposed to tell us?" There was no mistake in Robin's speaking. In this, she was with Patrick 100.

"That Detective Beaudry's liver wasn't viable."

"Then there's no choice. My Dad needs my liver. We have to perform living-donor-transplant surgery tonight." He glanced at Robin as he said it, seeing her fear, relishing it, but there was no other course and he knew she would back him.

>>>>>>>

"I've scheduled Dr. McCane for my liver surgery and Dr. Ellis for my father's transplant. Tell them to be ready within the hour," Patrick informed Epiphany over the sound of the radio that was on behind the Nurse's Desk announcing for the hundredth time the death of local mob boss Sonny Corinthos and the steamy circumstances surrounding his murder, including his dalliance with his young babysitter who was the adopted sister of his robotic hit man. Patrick had already checked and had been ironically relieved to discover that nneither Sonny nor his killer were a blood type match for his father. He really didn't want to have to be grateful to the mob boss for saving his father. If any death should be senseless Patrick figured it was his.

If you have any second thoughts, now's the time," Robin said.

"None." He looked down at her, his face absolutely calm and certain. This was what he had wanted to do from the beginning. He needed to do this for his father.

"Sneed from administration called. We have a problem," Epiphany announced. Patrick turned to face her.

"Let's solve it," Patrick said imperiously.

"You need a signature on your psych evaluation form. Without it, the hospital can't authorize surgery."

"Okay, we're going to have to skip the formalities because we don't have time. What part of 'my father is out of time' don't you understand? I'm not going to waste a minute tracking down a shrink for a signature."

"You can be as overbearing and Dr. god-like as you want. It won't help get your father a liver. A signed psych evaluation will."

"Epiphany's right, Patrick." Robin once again stepped in where Patrick's temper and impatience was going to get in the way. "There's a protocol in place."

"What, to protect the hospital and your backsides when my Father slips away?"

"I'm no fan of Iris Sneed, but she's right about this. The rules are there to protect you, to make sure you are not making any decision under duress."

"Are you questioning my mental stability?" Which was a wholly fair question given his wild-eyed look at that moment.

"Don't cloud the issue. It does not work with me." Epiphany snarked back.

"Fine." Patrick grabbed the file from her hand and walked to the other side of the wall behind the Station. Knowing what he was about to do Robin rushed after him and cut around the other side of the pillar.

"Hey. Don't do that!" She stood in front of him.

"Don't start! I'm not going to lose my father because some signature's missing on some stupid form!" His pen was poised over the signature box. He didn't have the time to deal with Ms. Righteous' lecture on the rules.

"Well, then stop wasting time. Shut up and let me sign it." She grabbed the file out of his hand, already ready with her own pen. He stared at her stunned, his heart feeling like it was dropping to his shoes. "Come on. Your chicken scratch isn't going to fool anyone. I can match Lainey's signature better than you can."

He blinked, momentarily unsure if he was awake. "Robin, this is forgery. You can get in a lot of trouble for this." As he spoke she signed her named and handed him the file.

"You're welcome." She held it out to him with her eyebrows raised.

"Thank you," he whispered. He was rocked. No one had ever risked this much for him. No one until this dark haired dervish spun into his life and turned it upside down and now with that one act she was putting it right side up again and in a way it hadn't been since his mother had died on that table. The words were not enough, no words were enough. So instead he gave her his heart, he just didn't know it yet.

"Let's go." She turned and headed back to the Nurse's Station to get things underway. Once again he followed her, once again trying to comprehend why she would put herself on the line like that for him.

He didn't understand how breaking the rules like that fit into her strongly held convictions. He didn't realize yet that there was no rule she would not break for a love as pure as the one she saw he had for his father. Didn't realize that she was loyal and steadfast and had her own strong sense of right and wrong and that what so impressed him about her on the stand at Manny's trial was nothing for her. He was just coming to learn that these qualities were the source of her morality, not some bureaucratic rules made up by faceless men in a room somewhere away from real life and death decisions.

It was this code that had her stand with Stone until the end with a strength and conviction most adults could not conjure up, let alone imagine. It's what had her stay with Jason and stand up for him even when he didn't necessarily deserve it or her. It was what had her refuse the only antidote during the epidemic. And it was what had her forge that signature on the paper in order to give Noah and Patrick a second chance.

This was the legacy of her parents. And now that Patrick had her loyalty and her heart there was no lengths she wouldn't go to in order to help him.

Or keep him.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: There's some simple math to do. Sonny is dead, that leaves one contract spot open – that's Brenda. Now, Big Daddy Scorpio needs to come back, and then Mamma Luv needs to come back, therefore I need at least two more contract spots to open up. And Noah, Noah needs to be on contract. So that leaves 3 people to dump. Hmmmm. Are you with me! Hee.

>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 18  
>>>>>>>>   
_We'll make it through  
And I hope you are the one I share my life with  
And I wish that you could be the one I die with  
And I'm praying you're the one I build my home with  
I hope I love you all my life_  
>>>>>>>>

Patrick was sitting clad only in a pair of scrub bottoms on a gurney in pre-op when Robin walked in and closed the door. He was scribbling on a pad of paper and looked up when she entered, smirked and then continued his writing. She wondered what he was writing – his last will and testament or a manifesto on seducing women to leave behind as his legacy. With Patrick you never knew if you were going to get the brilliant man beneath or the cocky playboy bravado. Robin was secretly thrilled by the unexpectedness of him.

"I'm not under anesthesia yet." Robin looked up from his chest to find his brown eyes twinkling knowingly at her. "Couldn't wait to ogle, huh?"

Having been caught red handed and red faced she just shrugged and sat down on the bed next to him. As she settled the reality of the situation made her stomach flutter and she blew out an audible breath trying to calm herself. She thought she had clamped down on these feelings before she walked into the room.

"Hey." He put the pad down on the pillow and looked down at Robin. "You're really worried." He sounded surprised. "There's less than a five percent chance something will happen to me. Not that your concern isn't touching."

Shit, Robin thought, searching her mind for something to cover her fear, but she couldn't bring herself to fall in line with his teasing. She was really worried. Instead, she covered her face with her hands and nodded to let him know she heard and understood, she just didn't believe. She'd been having a really bad feeling about this eventuality for the last few days - that if he was the donor that something bad was going to happen to him.

Patrick pulled her hand off her face and leaned down to look her in the face. "You're supposed to be making me feel calm." He wasn't the least bit put out by her worry, in fact he was touched by it.

"I'm just really scared for you, Patrick." Robin gripped his hand and looked up at him. Robin Scorpio did not scare easy and if she was scared she never showed it. It gave him some idea of how much she had come to care for him, maybe even love him. The word came easily to him now. Even though he wasn't worried, neither was he going to miss the opportunity to do or say what needed to be said in case he didn't get the chance to later. He had already done that with his father. With that in mind he had spent the moments since he had left Robin's side to prep for this surgery getting real with himself; and in getting real he had realized that he loved her. An unexpected, but not unwelcome revelation. He had a feeling his mother would have adored Robin and he knew that his father did.

Looking at the fear in Robin's eyes now, though, he decided that distracting her took priority over saying something that would make it seem like her fears had validity. He was going to make it, there was no way he was not going to have the opportunity to spend a lifetime with this woman. And if that declaration didn't scare him then some piddling surgery sure as hell wasn't going to. "Then maybe you should give me something to look forward to?" He bit his bottom lip and winked suggestively. Robin let out a surprised laugh at his provocative statement. She shook her head and leaned against him and sighed. "Come on, you know you want to."

"Now that you mention it." Robin looked up at Patrick, still looking scared, but obviously forcing herself into a good humor for his sake. Patrick licked his bottom lip and his dimple flashed as he contemplated just how he wanted her to kiss him. But she didn't give him a chance to decide when she surged against him and slammed her lips hungrily into his and almost toppling him over. His pad and pen clattered to the floor.

Her hands were everywhere, feeling the smooth skin over hard muscles and most importantly his warmth, his very alive heat. Patrick's eager hands buried themselves in Robin's hair and pushed them down until she was on her back. The kiss gentled, their hands slowed into tender caresses and went on and on. Eventually, Patrick pulled back and stroked Robin's hair off her face and looked down at her.

"What?" Robin asked in a breathy voice, her eyes darting away from his and back.

"I just want to look at you so I have something to dream about while I'm out."

Robin blushed. "You're unbelievable. Here you are about to go into surgery to save your father's life and you're still spouting ridiculous come-ons." Her smile communicated her desire to recast the conversation in the locker room that had gone awry and he instantly caught on. It was a moment that still haunted him. One that he went over again and again in his mind, cringing at the memory of him milking his hurt feelings while missing the signs that she was ill; hearing it echo in his head when she started to apologize and what he was certain now would have been her admission that she was feeling sick.

"Honey, you're the one who attacked me. Besides." He moistened his bottom lip. "I was being sincere."

Robin nodded and a couple of tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's really going to be okay," Patrick whispered. "You've definitely given me something to live for."

"Me too," Robin admitted and gently lovingly stroked his cheek.

Patrick leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.

>>>>>>>>

Robin held two envelopes in her hand.

_"Don't open them unless I don't…wake up." _

One was addressed to Noah and the other to Robin. Patrick had given them to her before she had left him in pre-op and her hands had been shaking when she slipped them into her lab coat and she had quickly put them out of her way in her locker before scrubbing up to observe in the O.R.

He hadn't wanted to give them to her, but when she had asked what he was writing he had immediately seen that appearing to lie to her would only make her worry worse. So he had given them to her for safekeeping, careful to keep a teasing tone in his voice and following it up immediately with a searing kiss and the whisper that he just wanted to make sure there were no regrets, nothing unsaid.

Those words too echoed in her head and her hands were shaking now as she looked down on them. They, she, had come too close to having to open them. It was in that moment when the machines started to beep that she realized how deeply embedded into her heart Patrick Drake had become. Far from being a little bit in love, she was in fact, she admitted now, averse to living without him.

Stop it, she ordered herself away from those morbid thoughts. He was fine now and recovering in the transplant unit. He would be waking up soon and on the road to making peace with his father.

And she still really, really wanted to read his letter.

Which, Patrick probably knew when he gave it to her instead of someone else for safekeeping. It probably said "Boo" or "Gotcha" so something, she rolled her eyes.

But what if it was his last confession? Something along the lines of what he had said to her when they thought she was going to die during the epidemic and before they had shared countless heated kisses and aborted dates. Before she knew for certain she was in love with him. What, just what if that amazing man felt the same way about her?

The envelopes weren't even sealed, he never had to know.

If Brenda was here she'd open them.

None of her rationalizations were working and it was driving her simply mad. Scowling, she put the envelopes back in her pocket and headed back to Patrick's room to check on him, again.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: One down, 2 to go….

>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 19  
>>>>>>>>  
We'll make it through  
And I hope you are the one I share my life with  
And I wish that you could be the one I die with  
And I'm praying you're the one I build my home with  
I hope I love you all my life  
>>>>>>>>

"I can't believe he's dead." Brenda Barrett had her legs up on Robin's coffee table and was holding a glass of red wine in her hand. The sleeves of her sheer black shirt were overlong and hung over her hands and she was wearing red sweat pants that matched the red of the pedicures she and Robin had finished earlier during the evening of pampering that Brenda had insisted on.

Robin didn't respond to the comment that Brenda had been repeating frequently since her arrival in Port Charles earlier in the day. She just leaned back in the big cushy chair she was sitting in and drank her wine.

"It just didn't hit me until I came back here. Back in Rome it was all so far away and long ago." Brenda toed the pizza box sitting open near her foot.

"In a galaxy far, far away," Robin intoned. "I felt the same way in Paris about everything and almost everyone here. There's something about coming home."

"Jason?" Brenda watched Robin over the rim of her glass.

"I remembered loving him, but seeing him brought it all back for a while." Robin sighed, thinking about the kiss and the scene she'd had with Sonny afterwards, but before she could feel sad about it she also remembered the infuriating comments Patrick had made about it to her after he had heard about it. The thought of Patrick left a smile on her face, one which her best friend immediately jumped on.

"But you got over it because you're in love with Patrick Drake now, right?" Brenda arched her well-groomed eyebrows at Robin who looked at her friend levelly. "Oh come on, even you're not in that much denial. It's written all over your face whenever you mention him. It's so cute and girly."

"A few weeks ago I'd have argued you to the death about it." Robin blew out a breath and took a sip of wine.

"You're still not saying it out loud." Brenda pointed at finger at Robin and smiled evilly.

"I'm in love with Patrick Drake." Robin bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling as Brenda squealed and jumped around on the couch.

"Robin's in love! Robin's in love! I can't wait to meet this guy."

"I'm sure he'd love to meet you too. I have a feeling he likes models." Robin chuckled, totally unthreatened by the prospect.

"Former model turned business woman," Brenda said in a snooty voice before recommencing squealing. "Now open the damn letter! I bet he loves you too!"

"You don't even know him." Robin had purposefully left the letters at the hospital.

"But I know you and he can't help but love you."

"Well, believe it or not, plenty of men have resisted my charms." Robin smiled wryly at her.

"Fools." Brenda paused and then frowned. "Sonny's dead. I just can't wrap my mind around it." Brenda leaned back and took another sip of wine.

"Well, you'd better try or you might become Carly's roommate at St. Anne's." Robin grimaced as she remembered Carly's melt down at General Hospital a few days previously. She had shown up at the hospital right after Sonny's body had been brought in by the paramedics and she had insisted on seeing him. Robin had come down to sit with Sonny herself for a moment before going to see Patrick and as soon as Carly saw Robin she started ranting and raving how it was all Robin's fault and had grabbed some medical instruments and tried to run at the petite doctor. Fortunately, Mac had some men guarding the body as it was prepared for transport to the coroner's lab and had managed to pull Carly back before she managed to get near Robin. From there she had gone from complete ranting melt down into a catatonic state from which she had yet to emerge. Given her past history, the prognosis was not good and she had been shipped away for more intensive care. The children were currently under Leticia's care and by all accounts hardly noticed her absence.

"At least I don't have to save Jax from her clutches. Until she gets out. They always let her out." Brenda grumbled. "Although, three strikes and you're out. Is this the third or fourth time she's been committed?"

"Haven't been keeping track." Robin shrugged and leaned forward to refill their glasses.

"I doubt Jason will actually go to prison, but I can't believe that he's not out on bail. That John Durant is good. I can't believe he's Carly's father." Brenda swirled her fresh glass of wine as she continued to skip from one topic to another. "Jason has changed so much. When I went to see him it was like a light had been turned off inside. Do you think it's the brain damage or the life with Sonny?"

"Are you afraid that it could have happened to you?" Robin asked, seamlessly following her best friend's train of thought.

"It would have, it definitely would have. I could have been either Jason or Carly, or dead. Anyway, enough of this depressing stuff. We need to plan your wedding."

Robin choked on her wine and stared at her best friend in horror. Brenda was laughing uproariously, enjoying getting to push her best friend forward in person. She was eager to meet Patrick for herself and see if he was good enough for her best friend.

>>>>>>>

"Good morning. How are you feeling today?" Robin asked as she walked into Patrick's hospital room. His bed was littered with medical journals and he looked up in surprise at Robin's entrance as he had been so engrossed in his reading.

"Fine, bored. I'm ready to get out of here." He sighed dramatically and gave Robin puppy eyes.

"That's not what your doctor says."

Patrick mumbled under his breath and put the journal he was reading down on the bed. "Entertain me, please." Then he waggled his eyebrows at Robin who dutifully rolled her eyes.

"I wanted to give these back to you since we didn't need them." Robin pulled the two letters out of her lab coat and held them out to Patrick as she sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Patrick narrowed his eyes and studied her. "Did you read them?" he asked suspiciously, though he was not bothered either way.

"You asked me not to."

"And you listened to me? I would have read them the moment I walked out of the room." Patrick put them into a journal as a bookmark and smiled mischievously at her.

"Unlike you I have self control," Robin said imperiously.

Patrick laughed and then held his side. "Don't make me laugh," he gasped and shook his head at her. "I hear I owe my life to you. How come you didn't mention what happened in the O.R.?" Robin shrugged.  
"In some cultures that means I belong to you," Patrick lowered his voice to a seductive pitch. "We both know how much you like to have me under your control."

"Then I could order you to let me read that letter?" Robin tilted her head and tapped her finger against her lip contemplatively. Patrick wordlessly took one of the letters out and held it out to her. Robin frowned and looked at it. "I don't want to read it."

"Afraid of what it might say?" He gave her a smoldering look.

"You wrote it in case you died, Patrick," Robin said quietly. "I was curious, I am curious, but whatever you have to say to me shouldn't be said." She stopped and waved her hand. "Like that. It should be of your own free will. Besides, I thought it might say 'gotcha' or something."

Patrick took Robin's hand in his. "There's nothing in that letter that I wouldn't say to you right now if you were ready." His words and his expression were sincere.

Robin had just opened her mouth to speak when her beeper went off. "Hold that thought." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Get some rest. I'll try to stop by before I get out of here."

"What do you mean?" Patrick said, practically pouting. He was used to seeing throughout the entire day whether she was on shift or not.

Robin looked up from her pager, her distraction gone as she realized he didn't know. "Today's Jesse Beaudry's funeral," she said softly.

"I should be there," Patrick said, upset by the realization he was going to miss the young detective's funeral. "I should be there."

"You did your best to try to save his life; there was nothing you could do for him. All there is for you to do is to take care of yourself right now."

Patrick didn't look appeased as he stared down at his hands. Robin wanted to stay, but not only did she have to go, she knew that this was something that Patrick was going to have to work out for himself. "I'll see you later." She glanced back once before leaving the hospital room. 

Patrick pulled out the letters and stared at them, thinking how unfair it was that Jesse Beaudry hadn't had the opportunity to tell the people he loved how he felt about them before his life was cut short.

>>>>>>>

A/N: Now Carly and MyKill are off canvas...So we're 3 for 3. But the "bloodbath" will continue until GH is a balanced canvas once again. Oh, and a show about a hospital!  



	20. Chapter 20

>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 20  
>>>>>>>>>

"Robin always did have good taste."

Patrick looked up from the Game Boy Micro he was hunched over playing to find a vision standing in the doorway of his hospital room. Out of pure habit upon seeing a beautiful woman his smile turned sultry and he pressed his tongue out between his lips. "The Face of Deception, this is what I call room service." Then he gave her a dazzling smile, complete with his one-side-only dimple.

"Given that I'm Robin's best friend you might want ratchet down the horn dog act." Brenda walked into the room and sat down in the guest chair clearly undaunted by the idea of walking into the hospital room of a man she'd never met before and who was more than half-naked. In fact, she enjoyed the psychological advantage.

Patrick tilted his head and feigned deep thought. "You might have a point." Then he grinned. "So you're the famous Brenda, and when I say famous I don't mean as a model I mean as Robin's best friend. She talks a lot about you." He still found it surprising that Robin had a friend who was practically a super model, but then he'd learned a lot of things about Robin that were surprising in the past few months, turning all his off-the-cuff psycho-babble analysis of her life on its ear.

"That's natural, we've been best friends for over twelve years. I've always been a rather protective big sister as a friend, if you know what I mean." Brenda leaned in and spoke as if imparting confidential information.

"You're here to check if I'm good enough for your best friend." Patrick chuckled at the novelty.

"And little sister. Yes." Glad things were clear she sat back and crossed her legs and prepared herself to interrogate her captive subject.

Before she started Patrick looked towards the door and then back at Brenda. "Is she going to be here soon, I haven't seen her since this morning?" Something in Brenda's expression unnerved him. "What's wrong with Robin?" he demanded heatedly, unconsciously moving himself to be ready to spring out of the bed.

"Wow." Brenda looked at him in awe. "You're in love with her. She's fine, she doesn't need you to ride rescue for her tonight." Brenda definitely liked what she was learning.

"She's not all right, I can tell by your expression. What's going on? The funeral?"

Brenda paused, thinking back on what Robin had told her over the past months of "Patrick Drake this" and "Patrick Drake that." Then she decided to say and do what she pleased anyway, all in Robin's best interest of course.

"You know about Stone?"

"The boyfriend who died when she was seventeen. You knew him?"

"Yeah, I knew him." Brenda stopped and thought back. "They were amazing together, especially after we discovered he was sick. You'd never think she was this seventeen year old girl, she had the grace and generosity of spirit of…of no one else I've ever met of any age while he was dying and then she fell apart for a while."

"And today brought it back up for her, so she didn't want to come here like that," Patrick said, immediately understanding. Wishing it wasn't so, but understanding it. Robin didn't like anyone to see her vulnerable. That was something he intended to change between them.

"No, actually, right now she's at her apartment having a screaming match with her father," Brenda grinned. "Best thing that could have happened today, actually. Fired her right up."

"Her father's back? She's having a hell of a day." Patrick itched to get out of bed and rush to her side, even though he knew she probably wouldn't welcome his interference.

"You don't know that half of it. They're fighting about Jason, talk about closing the barn door after the horse gets out." Brenda chuckled.

"Why Jason?" Patrick frowned.

"I'll back up. After spending the afternoon with Maxie and then the funeral Robin was…" Brenda paused thinking on how to put it.

"Thinking about Stone." He waved a hand for her to go on.

"Right. And Sonny who was very close to Stone and very good to Robin during that time. So she went to the bridge to be near Stone."

"The bridge?" Patrick interrupted.

"It's a bridge that's special to Robin because of Stone, she feels close to him there. When Stone was dying one of the things he wanted to do before he left is to bungee jump so Luke found this bridge and set it up for him. That was the bridge that Robin, along with Sonny and me, released Stone's ashes. After he died she would go up there to be close to him. It was also where she met Jason, right after he had become Jason Morgan." Brenda shivered slightly as she thought of Jason's own description of that night. She tried not to believe that Robin would have actually jumped that night, but she wasn't sure and it still frightened her to think about.

Patrick was absorbing the information, but still confused about why she and her father were fighting about Jason tonight. Then it hit him. "Wait a minute, she went to the bridge tonight and, don't tell me, Jason showed up." Patrick scowled and wondered how the hell the guy had gotten out of jail.

"Exactly. Apparently they were sharing a close moment that Robin's father misconstrued when he suddenly decided to jump back into Robin's life and started yelling about being seen with, and I love how he says this, 'the criminal elements'. They were still going at it when I thought I'd escape and come meet you."

"What the hell do she and Jason have to say to each other," he mused out loud.

"The jealousy is cute, Dr. Drake." Brenda gave him her own dazzling smile. "I think Jason literally saved Robin's life, he definitely gave her the hope to go on after Stone died and she found out she was HIV positive. Whoever he's become now doesn't detract from who he was to her then and Robin's more loyal than it's probably healthy for her to be. They were talking about Sonny and Jason's situation." Brenda shrugged. "Did you know I was married to Jason once? Purely platonic, of course."

Patrick put a hand to his head, momentarily wondering if he was having a dizzy spell and then concluding it had to be the dizzying turns of conversation. He could hardly wait to see Robin in a room with this woman, there was no way Robin could be so darn serious around her. She was also his best source right now for knowledge on Robin and what made her tick.

"You're not jealous of Jason, are you?" Brenda asked.

"Of that thug? Robin's not in love with him." He knew that for certain because she had said it under oath. "So her father's back throwing his weight around and Robin's not liking that." Patrick's eyes strayed towards the windows of his room that looked out to his father's room and grimaced. "Maybe they'll have a chance to work things out this time." That is if the infamous Robert Scorpio put his pride aside and stuck around for a while.

"They will. Robin's just really pissed and really hurt. Her father was her idol growing up, whatever else happened to her, and it was a lot, she was always secure that her daddy loved her. His showing up and admitting he'd pretended to be dead for so long took the rug right out from under her. I'd pop him one myself but besides being a super spy who might shoot me, I can understand him wanting to protect Robin. She's always been in a lot of danger one way or another."

"Which is why she knows Kung Fu?" Patrick asked, thinking back to the display he had witnessed a short time ago.

"She's also a superior marksman. She'd definitely give Jason a run for his money if she decided to become a hitman. I'd hire her to do some work for me." Brenda rubbed her hands together.

"Tell me some more things about Robin I don't know."

Brenda decided she liked Patrick and she wanted to help him and Robin get it together. She knew before she came in that Robin was in love with this guy and now she was just as certain the feeling was mutual. He hadn't denied it and even if he had it was written all over his face. "Robin's bungee jumped a few times, jumped out of planes. She water skis and snow skis. She's a fantastic dancer, she also sings, but it's virtually impossible to get her to do it. She's generous, loyal, responsible, super intelligent, guarded and passionate and if you get into her heart she'll go to the wall for you no matter the cost to herself."

"Am I in her heart?" Patrick thought he knew the answer to that, but he wanted to hear it. If not from Robin, then from her best friend.

"That declaration, my friend, you are going to have to earn from Robin herself."

Patrick shrugged and gave her a smile that said that it was worth a try. "Can you get her to come visit tonight? Or at least call me. I want to know she's okay. And I owe her a few lectures on father-child relationships." Patrick licked his bottom lip and looked out towards his father's room again.

>>>>>>


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Every time I read some of your lovely feedback I'm motivated to write a little more. Thanks guys!

>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 21  
>>>>>>>

"You don't get a say in my life, you made sure of that!"

"How many times am I going to have to explain that…"

"Explain? You've explained nothing! You showed up 'hey I'm alive by the way, deal with it' and then you took off." Robin was trembling with emotion as she faced her father with the coffee table between them. She was too far gone to notice that he was standing just where Patrick was when she had come down on him about the bet and that she was similarly posed.

"I told you I did it to protect you and your mother." Robert threw up his hands as if he was dealing with the most exasperating person on the planet, as if he was the injured party.

"Right. Play dead and wash your hands of any responsibility. Let my mother wander around without her memory for years and just leave me to mourn both of you when I was just a small child. Don't show up when my teenaged boyfriend dies and I'm diagnosed with HIV. Stay away when I'm dating a mobster hitman and being shot at and bombed on a regular basis. Great protection, Dad!"

"You are just like your mother!"

"I'll take that as a compliment." Robin raised her chin defiantly and the two Scorpios stood glaring at each other silently, neither giving quarter, neither letting down their guard. Not surprisingly, it was Robert Scorpio who made the conscious decision to retreat first.

"If you're not going to listen I'll come back when you're ready."

"Run away and hide again, Daddy," Robin mocked. "You've gotten good at it."

"What do you want from me, Robin? Do you want blood? Do you want my head on a stake? Do you want your pound of flesh, because believe me I'd give you all of that if it would make you feel better, if it would make you understand that I did what I thought was best for you." Robert's voice was rough and fierce as he looked Robin straight in the eyes. "You are my little girl and I would do anything to protect you even never get to be in your life again, even have you hate me for the rest of my life."

At the last statement Robin felt a jolt in the region of her heart. All the advice she had given Patrick over the past months about his father came flooding back through her. She was, she realized, a big fat hypocrite.

Robert, a master of observation, saw Robin soften and went in for the metaphorical kill. "But I don't want you to hate me, Robin. I want to be a part of your life again. I want to be your father again." He watched and waited, reading the expressions running over his daughter's face and he saw the moment she caved and he was right there to take her in his arms as she cried out the sadness of the day and the pain he had caused.

"I haven't forgiven you yet," she said into his chest.

"I know. But I hope you will."

>>>>>>>>

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Robin asked as she walked into Patrick's room. It was late and the rest of the hospital was quiet, but Patrick was sitting up in bed looking through what looked suspiciously like one of her photo albums.

"I slept all day." Patrick grinned up at her. "You were a cute kid."

"That is mine!" she tried to take it, but Patrick grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed it. Robin sighed and made a mental note to waste her breath with Brenda later. "I was told that my appearance here was mandatory." As she spoke she acquiesced to Patrick's tug on her hand and sat down on the bed, careful not to jostle him.

"I heard you had a rough day." Patrick stroked her hair back on one side and looked into her red-rimmed eyes. He hated that she had been crying, hated that he wasn't the one who got to hold her while she did. "How did it go with your dad?"

"You'll be happy to know I finally took my own advice. I haven't forgiven him yet, but…we'll get there. He said he's sticking around. I don't know for how long." Robin shrugged and traced her finger absently over the knit blanket.

"You'll get there. You know what you want and need to do. How's Maxie?"

"She's strong." Robin sighed. "She understood that you wanted to be there but couldn't. She doesn't blame you, Patrick. She knows there was nothing you could do. I wish you could."

"We're a fine pair, aren't we?" Patrick smiled ruefully, his eyes tender as he tilted his head and studied her face.

"No change with Noah?" Robin leaned her head against Patrick's hand and nuzzled, making him smile for real. She had stopped by to see Noah before she left the hospital and he had been still furious with her as well then. He was throwing around words like lawsuits and charges and she hadn't had the heart to lay into him again about how he was treating his son. It didn't seem to get through anyway. Eventually he would come around, she would just have to support Patrick until he did.

"You look tired. How about you crawl in here and stay tonight?" Patrick invited quietly, with none of his usual bravado.

"How about just for a little while?" Robin countered and let him pull up the covers and move over on the bed to give her room. "We could get in trouble for this," she said as she kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed.

"After everything we've done this is what you're worried about getting in trouble for?" Patrick snorted.

"Good point." Robin sighed as he cradled her in his arms. It didn't even occur to her that their closeness was unprecedented. That the most affection they had exchanged was a few hot kisses in inopportune moments. For both of them the intimacy just felt right. They talked quietly of the medical studies Patrick had recently read, argued on a few points and talked about what they would do once Patrick was out of the hospital. They fell asleep holding on to each other.

>>>>>>>>> 


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: The following characters have been moved to recurring: MyKill, Blinky (wow! I didn't FF one of his scenes this week and I see he's earned that name, is that his idea of an acting style?), Spam, Umily and Diego (zzzz). The following characters have been moved to contract status: Felicia Jones played by Kristina Malandro Wagner & Ned played by Wally Kurth.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 22  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Where were you last night?" Brenda's cheery voice called out as she walked in from the kitchen holding a homemade smoothie.

Robin cringed like a teenager, both at getting caught sneaking into her own apartment at six in the morning, but also imagining what her kitchen must look like now. "Good morning," she locked the door behind her and dropped her purse on the couch. "Before you ask, yes, I was with Patrick. Yes, I know you gave him my photo albums behind my back and yes, I let him hang on to them when he gave me a very hang dog look and implored me to leave him something interesting to do while stuck in a hospital bed."

"He's good. And really freakin' hot! Good going Little Sister." Brenda waved the smoothie around to punctuate her exuberance. Robin watched, waiting for the drink to spill out and stain something. Brenda caught the look and laughed and took a sip of the drink. "There's extra. I'll go pour you some." Brenda walked back into the kitchen.

Robin grinned. She was really glad Brenda was back. Now the trick was getting her to stay.

>>>>>>>

"You claim that the reason that you didn't want a transplant was because you didn't want to take a liver from someone who for some reason deserved it more from you. Well, you didn't and your son is recovering just fine. So, when are you going to stop complaining that you have a second chance at life and with your son and take it?" Bobbie asked Noah.

"How many times do I have to say that this wasn't my choice?"

"No, your choice was to start drinking when Mattie died and leave your young son to fend for himself. Your choice was to try to push him away to leave him without closure when you died. Your choices, quite frankly, suck. Patrick was right when he called you a moron."

"That's quite a bedside manner Nurse Spencer." Noah looked at Bobbie out of the corner of his eye.

"It's time you started being a father, a man and a doctor, Noah. That is what Mattie would have wanted – you told me that yourself when you got out of rehab – and it's what Patrick needs. It's what you both need. You just have to stop being scared of it."

"I'm not scared, I just don't deserve it." Noah didn't sound convinced.

"Of course you're scared. Sobriety is new and so is everything else about your life; but you don't need to do it alone. You have your son. You have Robin. Your AA sponsor. And you have me, Noah." Bobbie took Noah's unresisting hand in hers. Finally, for the first time in days he turned to look at someone without rage and bluster. The look in Noah's eyes took Bobbie's breath away and she squeezed his hand. Tears came to her eyes to match his when he squeezed her hand back.

"I can't do this alone," he whispered.

"You don't have to."

>>>>>>>

Bobbie walked into Patrick's room and looked around. "Where's Robin?"

"Home or working I imagine." Patrick feigned ignorance and turned back a few pages in the photo album he was looking at. He had found a particularly camp picture of Bobbie Spencer that he wanted to tease her about.

"You two have been getting close, but I guess with Brenda in town she wouldn't be spending another night at your bedside." Bobbie smirked, clearly knowing where Robin spent the night. "Noah wants to see you."

"Does my father want to yell at me again for saving his life?" Patrick asked hesitantly as Bobbie moved closer to the bed. He closed the album, more focused now on his father.

"Actually, he's ready to listen to you. He's scared, Patrick. About all of it. Being sober, being a father, resuming his career. Finally grieving for your mother." Bobbie sat down at the side of the bed. "I reminded him that he wasn't alone. I wanted to make sure that you knew that applied to you as well. You're in Port Charles now and there's no escape." Bobbie grinned at him.

"I stayed here because my father once worked here." Bobbie just nodded, she had known that since day one. "I couldn't believe it when Robin told me where she was demanding I go. I would have come anyway so I could make medical history." Patrick gave Bobbie an unrepentant smirk. "But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see General Hospital in Port Charles."

"Come on, I'll help you to your father's room and then I need to go be with my grandsons. Today is their father's wake."

Patrick frowned. He hadn't realized it was today.

>>>>>>

"You're not going and that's that!" Mac Scorpio drew a verbal line in the sand.

"Uncle Mac, there'll be plenty of security," Robin said, glancing over her shoulder to listen whether Brenda was out of the shower yet. Once Brenda had finished teasing Robin about spending the night in Patrick's hospital bed the realization that it was the day of Sonny's wake turned the mood somber. Until that day Brenda had been pretty calm about it all, but the reality of it had her agitated and teetering on the edge of grief. She didn't want her to hear Mac and her father's warning about possible mob violence on top of it all.

"I have to agree with my brother. It's the middle of a mob war, there's bound to be an attack. Haven't you had enough of that already?" Robert snapped.

"Don't start off by telling me what to do, Dad. Is ganging up on me the only reason you two came over?" Robin looked between the men. She was touched by their concern and pleased to see the Scorpio brothers united on an issue, but she wasn't going to roll over and listen to them either. She needed to pay her last respects to Sonny, for Stone's sake if nothing else; and she needed to be there with Brenda.

"I'm telling you that I can't guarantee your safety. The word on the street is that something big is going to happen and I don't know if my team will be able to stop it," Mac said.

"Pay your respects to Corinthos later, not at the wake. Let them all kill each other."

"Bobbie will be there with Sonny's kids. Alexis Davis and Ric Lansing will be there to say goodbye to Ric's brother and Kristina's father. I'd recommend you work on the security and not me." Robin wasn't worried. She didn't' think that Alcazar would be so disrespectful as to hit a funeral and she was certain that Jason and Uncle Mac would have enough security about the place to make sure that nothing happened.

"You're so damn stubborn," Robert growled. "Don't risk your life just to spite me."

"She gets that from you," Mac accused his brother. He knew that Robin was immoveable, figured she would be, but they had to try. "Be careful, keep an eye out and try not to stay long." Mac leaned down and gave Robin a hug and kiss.

Robert stood with his hands on his hips looking worried and annoyed.

>>>>>> 


	23. Chapter 23

>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 23  
>>>>>>>

Robin and Brenda held hands as they walked slowly into the crowded room at the funeral home. Brenda's hand squeezed hers hard when they simultaneously spotted Sonny's coffin at the end of the aisle. Brenda was frozen in place thinking of all the times she had imagined, and tried, walking down the aisle towards Sonny. This felt very, very wrong.

"You okay?" Robin whispered.

"I…I don't know if I can do this," Brenda whispered back. Before Robin could say anything the men in dark suits standing on either side of the door urged them forward. More identical looking men were standing against the walls at various points. Robin and Brenda knew them to be armed and dangerous. It was like stepping back in time for them both.

"Come on." Robin slipped her arm around Brenda's back and walked her down the aisle, Brenda's eyes remained fixed on the coffin as they got closer and closer. Years melted away as she was assailed with memories of Sonny, the good times, the passion, the times when Sonny's goodness touched her heart, and always the pain and bitterness. She felt ungrounded, as if she had stepped out of time and everything was blurring together. She hadn't expected to feel this much after so long. She hadn't prepared for it.

Robin, whose own history with Sonny was also a mix of sweet and betrayal, was able to turn her complete focus on being there for Brenda. It was how she normally dealt with life – worry for others and ignoring her own feelings – it was her comfort zone and her strength. She looked everywhere but at the coffin. She watched Brenda, hovered over her. She picked out familiar faces in the seats, people she had known for years, strangers and those she knew only as "associates." She even recognized some of Mac's strategically placed men.

When they were a couple of rows from the front someone reached out a hand and put it on Brenda's shoulder startling both women.

>>>>>

"Bobbie said you wanted to see me." Patrick was sitting in his wheelchair next to Noah's bed where Bobbie had left him.

"It's time I thank you, so thank you," Noah said quietly. "I hear you're recovering well. How are you feeling?"

"I'm ready to go home."

Noah chuckled and shook his head.

"What?" Patrick asked.

"You were like that as a child. You actually liked going to school and whenever your mother would make you stay home you drove her crazy nagging to go back."

"I remember." Patrick didn't crack a smile, he was too on edge waiting for his father to reject him again.

"I didn't prepare for this. Living," Noah clarified. "And I haven't been doing so well at any of it since…for ten years."

Patrick nodded and looked at his hands.

Noah swallowed and fought back tears. "I'm sorry, Patrick. I'm so sorry I disappointed you as a father and as a man."

Patrick closed his eyes and shook his head.

>>>>>>>

"Brenda?"

Brenda turned her head and almost smiled as she saw who had stopped her from walking the rest of the way down the aisle to Sonny. Even in the midst of a surprising overwhelm of grief, she couldn't help but appreciate the irony. "Hello, Jax." She turned to face him, let him take her hands in his. He was, she noticed, still dazzlingly gorgeous.

"You look breathtakingly beautiful. I'm sorry we couldn't see each other under less…tragic circumstances." Jax studied the face of the woman he had once loved above all others, wondering if he had ever gotten over her after all. Thinking, perhaps, that Robin had been right, that he threw away chances with good women and was now throwing away his spirit with bad women to avoid going after the woman he really wanted.

"I never thought you'd say Sonny's funeral was tragic," Brenda said, uncaring of who might overhear them. From where their hands connected a warmth began to travel up her arms and through her body, grounding her again to the present.

"It is for his children, for Carly and all the people who love them," Jax said smoothly, his eyes changing momentarily as he said the name of his now-committed lover and business partner.

"I cannot believe you got involved…"

"Where are you sitting, Jax?" Robin interrupted before Jax and Brenda got caught up in an argument about Sonny and Carly and who knows what else. "Brenda and I will be over in a moment." Robin grabbed Brenda's hand and shot Jax a look. Jax had the grace to look embarrassed and turned away to go save them seats. As they walked down the rest of the way, Alexis caught Robin's eye and nodded at her.

Robin let Brenda take the final few steps alone, hanging back to give her privacy. As she waited she saw Bobbie sitting with her grandchildren and Jason and Sam on their other side. Morgan was dressed in a small suit and didn't look like he understood the meaning of the event he was at. Michael, on the other hand, was teary and angry looking. With a glance at Brenda to make sure she was okay, Robin walked up to Bobbie and the children to pay her condolences.

"I know you, my mother hated you!" Michael said very loudly to Robin. Robin halted in her tracks, mortified as heads turned to look at her.

>>>>>>

"I couldn't let you die. Because I love you, Dad." The words were hard to get out, but now that they were Patrick felt was a sense of relief that they were finally out of his head and being heard by the one person he'd always wanted to hear them.

Noah covered his face with his hands and his shoulders shook.

"Dad?" Patrick reached a hand out to his father, scared at seeing his father cry.

"I'm all right. I'm all right." Noah sucked in a breath and dropped his hands and looked at his son. "I'm all right because of you and I never deserved it."

"Will you stop..." Patrick started heatedly before Noah interrupted.

"I didn't deserve your love after losing your mother and pushing you away. I thought it was for your own good, that you were better off without me. All this brilliant logic under the haze of alcohol." Noah laughed bitterly. "I am so proud of the man you are, Patrick. You are the man your mother raised you to be." Patrick didn't hide the tears slipping down his cheeks as his father's words touched him deeply. "Now, I'm going to be the father and the doctor she raised me to be. I promise."

Patrick took his father's proffered hand. "We can't get back what was, but we can start from here," Patrick said.

>>>>>>>

"Michael!" Jason clamped a hand down on Michael's shoulder. "You apologize to Robin, right now!"

"It's not necessary," Robin started to say, too embarrassed by the scene she had inadvertently sparked to be upset by the words themselves. And had she had the time, anyway, the only thing that would have made her sad was that the kid had been so twisted by its mother's selfishness.

"No, it is necessary. Robin helped me take care of you when you were an infant, when your mother couldn't. For that alone she deserves respect. Your mother was angry at her because Robin felt that you had a right to know who your real father was, AJ, my brother." Jason's voice shook on the last word. He had never really acknowledged AJ as a brother, as anything but a threat to the life that Jason Morgan wanted. But something was shaking loose inside him, had been since Robin came back to save his life. Something that was making him look differently at some of his choices, at some of his anger and loyalties.

He hadn't told anyone, not Sonny, not Sam, not his doctors, but he hadn't just recovered memories of Jason Morgan after Robin's drug combination; some of Jason Quatermaine's memories were coming back as well. In those memories he could feel that he was a different person than the one he'd become and in those he remembered AJ as his brother. From that perspective he could see how letting Michael control the adults around him would only assure he came to end of his adopted and biological fathers' end. He was starting to see that living with the code that Sonny had ingrained in him with his permission – the hypocritical views of loyalty and morality – would lead them all to little boxes and the loss of the people they love. "Apologize to Robin," Jason ordered.

Robin felt cold chills up and down her spine at Jason's words. She absently accepted Michael's grudging apology, but she could not take her eyes off Jason. He turned and looked at her and she thought she saw a spark of something she hadn't seen in years. Before she could figure out what it was a hush fell over the room. Along with everyone else Robin turned her head and looked towards the back of the room.

Lorenzo Alcazar stood in the doorway.

>>>>>>


	24. Chapter 24

>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 24  
>>>>>>>>>>

"You're not welcome here!" Jason strode down the aisle towards Lorenzo Alcazar, with Max and some other men following him and coming up behind Alcazar.

"I come in peace." Alacazar spread his hands innocently. "I had nothing to do with this, I came to tell you that in person and pay my respects."

"Your respects are not welcome." Jason motioned his chin at the men standing behind Alcazar, ordering them to get rid of the man.

"Don't be a fool, Morgan. Whoever targeted my son is responsible for this and they were good enough to get to Sonny while he was hidden away with his…your…Emily. I wouldn't be here alone if it were me." Alcazar struggled against the hands holding him.

Jason's eyes hardened at the mention of Emily who was sobbing broken heartedly at the front of the room. Sonny had been careless and he had put himself and Emily in danger and it had cost everyone. "Get out," Jason hissed, his anger all over the place.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this a lovely little scene for a mob funeral?" John Durant came walking through the doors grinning maniacally. "Who should we arrest first?"

>>>>>>>

"It was a strike, that ump is blind!" Noah snarled at the television, much to his son's amusement.

The two Drake men were in Noah's room watching the Yankee's game on the television. Epiphany had insisted on bringing in the sleeping chair so that Patrick could stretch out and wasn't sitting up for so long in the wheelchair. She had enjoyed manhandling Patrick into the chair, much to Noah's amusement. Now, father and son were enjoying the heated battle of baseball instead of the heated battle of father and son.

Outside the room Drs. Alan and Monica Quatermaine had stopped to have one of their frequent disagreements. This time, unsurprisingly, about Jason and his stated intention to take custody of Michael and Morgan. Alan wanted to take the opportunity to try and get custody of AJ's son, which Monica in her blind loyalty to the boy who wasn't even her biological son disagreed with. Noah's yell interrupted their exchange.

"Isn't that lovely to see?" Monica commented looking through the window at the men.

"I hope it stays that way," Alan said ominously, a sheaf of papers in his hand.

"Let it drop, Alan," Monica insisted again. "Does it really look like Noah is going to sue when it would impact his own son? He can't make a claim against the hospital or any of its staff without implicating Patrick."

"I can't do that. I'm Chief of Staff and if they lied to the transplant organization there are repercussions that must be dealt with."

"Dr. Winters already said that she signed the clearance and no one is complaining about anything else, Alan." Lainey Winters covered for Patrick and Robin because she wanted to return the good turn Patrick did for her during the epidemic and the good job Patrick did overall. She had no doubts about Patrick's mental state and if she had been available she would have signed it herself anyway.

Alan ignored Monica and walked into the hospital room. He couldn't fault Patrick for what he did, he had done worse during the epidemic and many times in the past, but he knew that he had to create a clear record so that the question would never come up again. That was why he had waited until he knew that Patrick and Noah had patched things up to bring it up. He had no desire to see anyone take the fall for saving someone's life, despite what Monica thought.

>>>>>>

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jason demanded of Durant, feeling like a broken record. Where the hell was the security that was supposed to be keeping people out?

"Saying a fond farewell to the man who destroyed my daughter's sanity, what else?" John Durant answered.

"John," Bobbie's strong voice cut through the scene of male testosterone. "Please don't make a scene at Michael and Morgan's father's funeral. Anyone who is here to pay their respects is welcome, otherwise please leave." Bobbie looked at all of the men with a threat glinting in her eyes.

"I'd listen to Barbara Jean, she's scarier than all of you," Luke Spencer who was standing off to the side enjoying the show put in.

Heeding the voice of reason, John Durant apologized to Bobbie, glared at the two mobsters and walked up to the front to see his grandchildren.

"We'll talk after this is over," Jason said to Lorenzo who took a seat at the back, watched over by Jason's men. Or men Jason thought were his. The matter of who was taking over Sonny's organization was far from over.

>>>>>

"Sorry to interrupt the game," Alan said as he walked into the hospital room. "How are you both feeling?"

Both men answered and shared a worried look. Neither thought the Chief of Staff was there to shoot the breeze. Sensing the tension Alan dived right in.

"I have some questions I need to get cleared up since we rushed through the final protocols to your surgery." Alan looked at Noah. "One thing I need to do is confirm, Noah, whether you did indeed wished to remain on the transplant list. I have had conflicting reports about that."

"I did. Patrick convinced me to change my mind before it was too late," Noah said calmly. He and Alan looked at each other for a long moment.

"And you expressed these wishes to Dr. Patrick Drake in the presence of Dr. Robin Scorpio and Nurse Epiphany?"

"I did."

"Then we're all in order here. I wish you both a speedy recovery. So, who's winning?" Alan turned to look at the television.

>>>>>

"He will be missed by many people. His…" Jason stumbled over the words. Did he say his ex-wives? His paramour? The mothers of his children? His former lovers? "But mostly his children, Michael, Morgan and Kristina."

"What about all the people he hurt?" A voice rang out from the middle of the crowd.

Scowling and blinking Jason looked up from his prepared notes as the speaker stood up. Heads turned, there were many gasps and then people began to speak in shocked tones.

"Do you really think there are any sane people over the age of ten around who will miss Sonny Corinthos? A.J. Quatermaine grinned, thinking it most fitting that he rise from his latest fake death at the real death of the man he hated.

>>>>>>

"It's early in the season," Patrick said, referring to the bad start the Yanks were having this season, which was one that he would always treasure because his father wasn't supposed to see the start of it and here he was watching it with him for the first time since he was a child.

Noah opened his mouth to give his two cents about his home team when the screen went blank and a graphic came on that read "Breaking News." The three men turned to look at the television.

"This is Marissa Colner and we have breaking news to report. There has been a report of explosions at the funeral home where the funeral of reputed mob boss Sonny Corinthos is being held. Emergency personnel are making their way to the scene, as are our own reporters. We'll provide more details as we have them."

>>>>>>>

A/N: AJ is played by Billy Warlock.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: In my universe Lucky Spencer does not resign his job because, well, I think that's silly. I had finally gotten used to the idea of a Spencer as a cop (and not being Jonathan Jackson, but that's another issue). At first I wasn't going to kill a certain character because I hate to waste any time and energy having people grieve over an already wasteful character and was just going to send her to Denmark or something, but then I realized it was my story and I could just skim over the grieving eg>. And I know, I know, if this was really GH Patrick would be instantly healed and on scene, but I just can't suspend reality that much.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 25  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Robin's at the funeral!" Patrick sat up quickly, heedless of the pain the motion caused. "Do you have a phone?" Patrick looked at Alan who dug into his pocket and pulled out his mobile. He turned it on and pressed the speed dial for Robin's number and tossed it to Patrick. "Dammit!" Patrick cursed as the number went straight to voice mail. He left a frantic message.

"She might have had it off for the services," Noah said, trying to calm his son's agitation.

Alan, meanwhile, walked into the hall and picked up the hospital phone to see what he could find out from emergency services.

"I can't just sit here!" Patrick pushed the blanket off his legs and swung his legs over the side.

"You can't, Son. We don't even know what's happened yet. Hey, where do you think you're going?" Noah cried out as Patrick stood up and lurched towards the door. Before he got through the doorway he was doubled over in pain and Nurse Epiphany was there berating his for a stubborn ass and forcing him into his wheelchair.

"You're not going to find out if she's all right, Dr. Drake if you're unconscious or dead," she told him firmly. 

>>>>>>>>>>

"Robin, Robin, wake up!" Brenda shook Robin's shoulder. Robin was lying on the floor amidst the chaos of chairs, bodies and debris. Brenda had a cut on her face and her black dress was full of dust, but other than some bumps and bruises from falling was otherwise unharmed. Some others around them were not as lucky.

"Wha…what happened?" Robin's eyes fluttered and then opened. "Ow." She closed her eyes again for a moment as she felt a dull ache in her head. Then she had the presence of mind to ask herself why her head hurt and she opened her eyes again to look up at Brenda. She saw her friend's injury and reached up to touch it as she sat up. She looked around and realized where they were. "Where's Jax?" she looked around and dug her purse out from underneath the chunk of plaster that had hit her in the head and pulled out some tissues and pressed them to Brenda's cut.

"He's okay, he went to help Alexis." Brenda took the tissues and held them to her head.

Robin breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with Brenda's help and surveyed the damage. The wall on the side of the room where Robin and Brenda and Jax had been sitting, the right side of the aisle, was mostly destroyed. Large pieces of it had collapsed into the room. The area behind the casket was completely blown out and open to sunshine, the casket itself was nowhere to be seen. Debris had scattered onto the seats on the other side of the aisle and the concussive shock of whatever had exploded had knocked over people in their seats. Men in dark suits were circling around the front of the room where the family had been sitting.

Robin had a flash of Jason giving a eulogy and AJ standing up in the crowd shocking them all, then nothing. She couldn't remember what had happened.

"Where's Jason?" Robin asked Brenda who shrugged helplessly as they helped a couple of their seat companions sit up. As soon as one of the suits came over to help the people out, Robin rushed to the front only to be stopped by Max and another suit. "I'm a doctor," she reminded him. Max nodded at the other guy and they let her through.

Jason was lying on the ground where he had landed after being thrown from the podium, Sam was hovering over him weeping, her clothes torn practically to bits, and Michael was on his other side shaking his shoulder uselessly trying to wake him up.

Nearby, John Durant was kneeling with Bobbie who was giving Emily Quartermaine mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as Durant applied chest compressions at her direction.

In the distance sirens could be heard approaching. Robin heard them and knew she was never going to hear the end of this from Mac and her father, but she pushed the thought away and slipped into doctor mode.

"Jason, it's Robin. Can you hear me?" Jason didn't respond even when Robin ran her hands over his form feeling for broken bones and cuts, of which she found a worrying number.

Robin, meanwhile, lifted Jason's eyelids to check his dilation, she didn't have a light but they looked to be equal and reactive. As she examined him, Bobbie crawled over and gave Robin a meaningful look and shook her head, Emily was dead. Pushing back the emotion that news would require for later, she watched as Bobbie picked up Jason's wrist and let Robin know that the pulse was weak and thready. Sharing a quick look with the experienced nurse, Robin slipped her hands underneath Jason's body and began to slide them, once there she bit back a gasp and pulled her hand out to confirm that the wet she felt was blood.

She waved over two of the suited men and had them slowly flip Jason over to reveal a jag of wood, possibly from the coffin, protruding from his back in the area of a kidney.

Sam let out a wail at the sight and Bobbie called for someone to hold the woman back as she tried to rush Jason's prone form.

Robin pursed her lips and considered the options out loud with Bobbie. They both agreed that they couldn't risk removing the object as it might be the only thing preventing a bleed out and sloppy removal might cause more damage. It needed to wait for x-rays and a surgeon.

At this pronouncement, Sam started screeching hysterically and tore out of the arms of the Sonny gang's typically inept guards. Before she could throw herself over Jason's body two arms circled the woman and pulled her back. Robin looked into AJ's very-much-not-dead-eyes. He gave her a small nod of recognition and Robin gave one back and made a mental note to spend some time later counting how many people she'd known who'd come back from the dead.

The sirens were right outside now and within seconds a horde of cops, paramedics and firemen were on scene. Robin waved over paramedics and rattled off the details of Jason's condition, then backed off. There was nothing she could do for him there. He needed a surgeon. She looked over and saw that another paramedic was pulling a sheet over Emily.

Sighing sadly, Robin got up from the ground and ignoring the pounding in her head turned to go outside to the triage area. She had only walked a few steps when she ran into her glowering father and uncle.

>>>>>>>>

Patrick opted to stay in his father's room while they waited. They were now tuned in to the endless loop of coverage on the local news. So far no real information had been given other than that there had not been a series of explosions as first reported, but only a single, rather large explosion. The area itself was cordoned off by the police and fire authorities and the bomb squad was seen dispersing in the area presumably to search the area for more explosives. Overhead cameras showed people being helped from the funeral home, which had only sustained damage in one part of the building, but it was clearly heavy damage as an outside wall had collapsed.

"Damn it, how long does it take to get information?" Patrick banged his hand on the chair again and dialed Robin's cell phone number again.

Noah pursed his lips and prayed.

>>>>>>>>

"Robin, I…" Robert began heatedly.

"Save the 'I told you so's.' There are people here who need help and then I need to get to the hospital."

"Are you all right?" Mac asked.

"I'm fine. Jason is badly injured and Emily Quatermaine is dead." Neither Scorpio's looked too worried by the news. "Lorenzo Alcazar was here." That on the other hand interested them. "He showed up and said that he wasn't responsible for Sonny's death and that whoever targeted his son at the carnival was responsible and was after both of their…organizations."

Robert looked impressed by Robin's immediate recounting of useful information. Mac smiled with pride and thanked her for the information. "Make sure you get checked out," he told her.

"Yes, Sir." Robin accepted a squeeze on the shoulder from her father and made her way outside the building where the injured were being triaged. She was immediately blinded by the bright sunlight and shaded her eyes with one hand as she used the other to rummage in her purse for her sunglasses. Overhead she heard helicopters hovering and as soon as she touched her cell phone she realized they were likely news copters and it was possible that Patrick had heard about the explosions. She didn't have any direct way to reach him in the ICU she realized as she turned on her phone to see she had five new messages.

She thought for a moment and then called Alan Quatermaine's cell phone. Someone had to tell him about AJ, Emily and Jason. He had once done her the service of delivering devastating news and she thought it only right she not avoid the job now.

"Robin?" Patrick's worried voice came on the line. "Are you all right?"

"Patrick? I was calling Alan?" Robin straightened her sunglasses and walked over to the triage area to find it sufficiently under control. She turned and walked around to find a way to the hospital. She spotted Officer Lucky Spencer waving at her and walked over.

"He gave me his phone and I've been trying to call you! Is Bobbie all right?" Patrick said.

"We're both fine. Is Alan there? I need to speak to him. Hang on a sec, Lucky is trying to talk to me."

There was silence on the line not because Robin asked for a minute, but because Patrick was thrown by Robin's casual attitude. He had been worried out of his mind for her, frantically pushing aside thoughts of her being injured and images of his life if she was suddenly gone from it. He had hardly expected a tearful declaration, but a brusque "I'm fine" and asking for their boss?

"Patrick?" Robin asked as Lucky put her into a car with Luke at the wheel and Bobbie in the passenger seat.

"Alan went to the ER to help manage incoming ambulances. Are you on your way?"

"I'm just getting a ride over now with Luke and Bobbie. I'll come up as soon as I can." She clicked off the phone and started dialing the ER.

"Honey, if you think it's going to be any less of a shock for Alan to find out that his son is alive and his daughter is dead over the phone from you then you're fooling yourself," Luke said from the driver's seat. In the back seat Robin grimaced at the truth of it and clicked off the connection. She would have to do it in person if no one else had by then.

>>>>>>>>

"Bobbie's all right. She's on the way here with Robin." Patrick frowned at the cell phone.

"What's wrong, Son? Is she injured?"

"She asked to speak to Alan," Patrick said, sounding befuddled.

Noah cracked a small smile that he quickly suppressed. "I imagine she wanted to convey some on scene medical information."

"Oh, right. Of course." Patrick nodded and put the phone down in his lap. That made sense. She was in doctor mode. He still wasn't satisfied, not by a long shot.

>>>>>>>>

Robin led the way as Luke helped his sister into the ER. Bobbie was insisting on getting to work right away, but both Robin and Luke shot her down. Robin told her she would treat her and then they could both get to work on the incoming injuries, though most were headed towards Mercy as it was a closer hospital to the funeral home.

On their way to an exam room Robin asked for Alan and was told that he had already been informed of his daughter's death and his son's injuries had left the ER. Whether he knew about AJ yet she didn't know. 

Relieved of the sad duty, Robin took Bobbie into the room and began to treat her cuts and check her for any other injuries.

"You were a bit short with Patrick on the phone," Bobbie commented, then winced as the antiseptic Robin applied to the cut on her arm stung.

"Short?" Robin asked absently.

"I imagine he was sitting around helpless in his hospital bed worrying about you and you asked to speak to Alan."

Robin frowned as she applied a bandage. "What was I supposed to say? I told him I was all right." She bent down and began to treat the small cut on Bobbie's leg.

"Oh dear." Bobbie chuckled.

"What?" Robin was completely perplexed as she observed Bobbie's amusement.

"You could have said some sweet words or something." Bobbie waved her hand around.

"Patrick and I aren't like that." Robin flushed. Even when she was sick during the epidemic or right before Patrick's surgery there weren't flowery words or declarations. Surely Patrick would have been uncomfortable with her saying anything sappy in front of other people had she had the presence of mind to think of it. Her head was pounding trying to figure out what she had done wrong. All she had been thinking about was Alan. It was his number she had called.

"It'll be fine." Bobbie patted Robin's shoulder as she hopped down from the table. She was certainly enjoying watching those two fumble their way to each other. "Let's go find some scrubs and get to work."

Robin looked down at her dirty and torn dress and concurred with the idea.

>>>>>>>>

"Dr. Scorpio and Nurse Spencer are downstairs treating patients," Nurse Epiphany walked into the tense Drake room to announce.

Hearing the news Patrick felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He was still uneasy about the call, but since he couldn't pinpoint quite why he pushed it away. Noah was similarly relieved.

"Are they injured?" Noah asked.

"Nurse Spencer has cuts and bruises, but Doctor Scorpio seems remarkably uninjured."

"Good." Noah nodded and watched his son process the information.

>>>>>>>>

"Plastic surgery should be able to take care of that perfectly," Robin said as she examined Brenda's cut. It had already been taken care of, but she had wanted to see it for herself.

"I know. It's small. Have you heard anything about Jason?" Brenda asked.

"He was transported to Mercy because it was closer. Monica went over there."

"Do they know about AJ yet?" Brenda asked.

"I don't know about Monica, but Alan does." Robin rubbed her forehead and sat down on a nearby stool as she remembered the scene in the ER when AJ walked in. She smiled. "He was shocked, but thrilled. Hell of a day for them. They lost a daughter, regained a son and another son might…" Robin still couldn't face the possibility of Jason dying.

"Did Michael see him?" Brenda asked gently, knowing that Robin didn't want to talk about Jason until there was some definitive news.

"Yeah. That wasn't too pretty, but…" Robin trailed off. Who and where Michael ended up with was something she didn't want to think about anymore. She'd had too much involvement with that in the past. Now, that Sonny was dead and Carly committed, AJ seemed like the logical choice to take care of his son, especially if Jason didn't make it. Robin's stomach sank at the finally completed thought.

"Are you all right?" Brenda's voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

Robin looked up, trying to focus on Brenda's words, on her face. The light was too harsh in here and things were hazy, unfocused. She felt like she was falling.

"Robin?" Brenda jumped down from the table as she friend went white as a sheet and began to wilt over. Brenda caught Robin's collapsing body. "Help! I need help in here!"


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I'm not a doctor. I find all that stuff icky (I still get shudders from the fake liver they showed when they were doing Patrick's surgery). But I did do some research on brain injuries and changed it to suit the plot, just like they would on the show. But not as unbelievably. I hope. PS, I'm ignoring the whole parentage of Baby John because I couldn't care less unless it becomes an interesting plot point – which is unlikely because I hate the demonization of Jax so he's "worthy" of PsychoWhore.

>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 26  
>>>>>>>>>>>

"Mind if we come in?" Brenda peeked her head into Patrick's ICU room. He was laying in bed his eyes riveted to the television, when he turned to look at her she could see his relief. It made her stomach sink because she knew that he probably assumed the "we" included Robin.

"Come in, come in." He clicked off the television and waved her in. His smile turned into a frown when he saw that the other half of "we" was Dr. Brian Weaver the other staff neurosurgeon, indeed the very one that Robin had overheard making the bet with Patrick in the locker room. "What's happened to Robin?"

Patrick's heart stopped, it seemed to him literally, the moment he saw Brian come in behind Brenda. He had thought everything was okay. She called, he spoke to her, and she said she was fine. But he was a neurosurgeon, he knew that brain injuries could come on slowly, but dammit so did Robin, she specialized in brain injuries for god's sake! She should have gotten checked out immediately! He should have asked questions, not let her brush him off. Should have not taken it at "I'm fine."

"Tell me what's going on!" Patrick demanded.

He knew he should have trusted his instincts. He'd been uneasy when she called because she had dismissed him so quickly. Since then he'd put it down to a combination of male ego and her being too preoccupied with wanting to tell Alan the news about his sons and daughter that had later been announced on the news. It might be crazy, but he couldn't help now but suddenly question whether her brusque manner was due to confusion caused by the head injury. Yeah, no male ego there.

"We're not sure yet. She was hit in the head and knocked out at the scene, but she woke up quickly," Brian looked over at Brenda for confirmation.

"It was less than a minute, she woke up fine. She didn't even complain about a headache. Not that she would complain." Brenda sighed. Patrick noticed that Dr. Weaver moved closer to the former model, but it was a fleeting observation. All his thoughts were on Robin and treatment options.

"She treated a bunch of patients and she was with her friend here in an ER exam room when she collapsed. I examined her and she's having CT scans done right now."

"What about…" Patrick was about to rattle off symptoms, but Brian interrupted him.

"She hasn't regained consciousness so we don't know what other symptoms she's experiencing. Her pupils are equal and reactive, her reflexes are completely normal. The only thing we know right now is that she's unconscious. It's either a concussion; there might be a slow intercranial bleed that may or may not be causing a subdural hematoma."

"I know what it could be. I want to see the scans and I want to see Robin." Patrick flipped his blanket off and moved to get out of bed. "And if she needs surgery I'm doing it."

"Whoa, whoa." Brian moved forward and put a restraining hand on Patrick's arm. "You just got out of major surgery yourself, buddy."

"Either help me or get the hell out of my way!" Patrick snarled.

Sensing the coming battle, Brenda stepped in between the men. "Brian, you knew he'd want oversee the case, that's why we came here together." 

"I came because I thought I'd be able to set his mind at ease and give him more technical information than you could." Brian looked down at Brenda then over her head at Patrick. "And that he'd trust my ability to take care of his girlfriend."

"You came here to help me bring him over to see her." Brenda smiled as she revealed her true intentions. Won over by her smile, Brian threw his hands up and let Brenda go get Patrick's robe. At least he shouldn't have to see the guy's ass if he was going to go along with this. "I'm still in charge of this case, Drake."

Patrick just looked at Brian, the threat in his eyes very clear. Robin recovered fully or there would be hell to pay.

>>>>>>>>

"Dammit, Scorpio. You're a doctor, you should have known something was wrong." Patrick was sitting at the side of Robin's bed talking to her quietly. He rattled off the symptoms in his head. She would have had a headache, she had known that she had been unconscious and she probably didn't remember the moment of impact, clearly she was confused when she didn't swoon at the sound of his voice on the phone, all of which she should have taken as warning signs. But of course, he thought to himself, Robin Scorpio was more concerned about other people than having herself checked out. "When you wake up I'm going to kick your ass. First I'm going to kiss you and then I'm going to kick your ass."

Patrick winced and adjusted his lean to a position that put less pressure on his incision. "Given your strong moral code and respect for life how in the hell did you ever get involved with mobsters? How many bombs and bullets have you dodged for that scum?" It wasn't until the news report this afternoon that it hit him that these were real life mobsters - killers, people who put no value on any life that got in the way of them making money – and that somehow ran around this town like respectable members of society and got women like Brenda and Robin to love them. It was unfathomable to him, all of it. Most especially that they had the blessing of Robin in their lives and threw it away, but then really it had been her choice to walk away no matter what she thought. They didn't deserve her. He wasn't sure that he did either, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let her go. Certainly not to some head trauma when he was the best neurosurgeon on the United States and she was one of the top brain researchers in the world.

Patrick had studied the scans and argued with Brian over the best course of treatment. He'd even brought them to his dad for his third opinion, which opinion was that Patrick shouldn't be the one treating Robin. He'd opened his mouth to argue before he'd seen the pain in his father's eyes and realized that this was about his mother and not anything to do with his opinion of Patrick's talents as a doctor. He was sure his father knew that he had no intention of relinquishing Robin's care to anyone.

"You've put me in quite a bind, Dr. Scorpio. If I didn't know better I'd think you'd planned this." Patrick smiled ruefully and shook his head. "Surgery or drugs? If you were anyone else I'd choose surgery with no hesitation. Now, I'm considered a traitor to my kind, but it's not so easy now when it's someone that I love." Patrick chuckled. "There, I said it, but in order to hear it you have to wake up."

"Yeah, so that makes it not so easy to take you into the OR and drill a hole in your head to alleviate the pressure. Especially when you have a drug combination for just this type condition, yeah, I'll admit that too. I read that paper you had published last year and now I've read your notes. And here we are once again with nothing to do but wait. You have one shot for this to work and then we do it my way."

Patrick lifted her hand and kissed it and continued to watch her breathe.

>>>>>>>

"I'm sorry about Emily." Brenda sat in the waiting room with Nikolas Cassadine.

"Thanks. She was doing what made her happy, Sonny made her happy." Nikolas shrugged. "I feel like the angel of death, all the women I love die. Then again, I am a Cassadine."

"You may be a Cassadine, but dark and brooding doesn't work for you." If anyone was the angel of death it was Sonny, but there was no point in saying that now. Brenda leaned forward and put her hand on Nikolas' "Robin will appreciate you being here while you're dealing with all this."

"The only other option was going out and getting stinking drunk and making a scene somewhere or sitting around the mausoleum I call home and being dark and brooding. Robin's inspired me to deal with things differently lately. I don't want to disappoint her." Nikolas tapped nervously on the arm of the chair he was sitting in across from Brenda.

"She has a way of making you want to be better, doesn't she?" Jax said as he handed Brenda a cup of coffee. Idly thinking about talking to Nikolas later about his idea of lake front condos on Spoon Island.

"Is that why you and I aren't at each other's throats right now?" Nikolas asked Jax who sat down on the couch next to Brenda.

"Could be?" Jax made a thoughtful expression and then took a sip of his coffee. "You really should get some rest," Jax turned his attention to his former wife.

"You were in the same explosion I was," Brenda pointed out and then turned away as if the subject was settled.

"Did they find Sonny's casket?" Nikolas asked, smirking at the little scene he'd witnessed.

"We think that's where the explosives were packed," Mac Scorpio said as he walked into the waiting room. "Someone was making a point."

Brenda frowned and squeezed Jax's comforting hand back. She didn't know how to explain it to him of all people that she didn't really feel a connection with Sonny anymore. That kiss on the docks that Jax called off their wedding over really was goodbye and once she had left Port Charles the spell faded away - just as it had for Robin when she went to Paris. All the drama and danger and bullshit talk about loyalty when all it meant was standing by as Sonny and Jason killed people and broke the law seemed like the biggest stupidity imaginable. It shamed her and it wasn't something she shared with many people in her life. Living in Italy now was the ultimate of ironies, organized crime was no joke there and the players made Sonny and Jason look like child's play. But in the end it didn't matter, dead was dead and all Brenda really felt was sadness for what was and relief that it would never be again. Maybe later it would help Jax to hear that?

"I want to see my daughter," Robert walked in and demanded.

"Patrick is with her right now," Brenda let go of Jax's hand and stood up. She had a strong sense that another battle was about to take place. Walking in right behind Robert was…

"No, I'd like to see my daughter. You chose not to see her for fifteen years you can wait another fifteen years."


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: How timely is this part of the story given today's news that Finola/Anna is indeed returning to GH! And in sadder news, rest in peace Gloria Monty. She will be missed, but hopefully we will not have to miss her legacy much longer – the legacy of super couples on GH: Luke and Laura, Frisco and Felicia and Robert and Holly.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – 27  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"I want to see my daughter!" Robert Scorpio walked in to the waiting room as if he owned it and made his demand of the waiting friends and family as if they were his loyal subjects. It was a way of being that made him a very successful spy; it just didn't make him a great hit at parties or, at present, with the members of his own family.

"Patrick is with her right now." Brenda let go of Jax's hand and stood up. She had a strong sense that another battle was about to take place because walking in right behind Robert was Anna Devane and she had a death glare trained on her former husband's head. Brenda definitely wanted a front row seat for this, but couldn't help but think about how all three of them had at some point in time disappeared on Robin.

"No, I'd like to see my daughter. You chose not to see her for fifteen years you can wait another fifteen years."

"Hello, Luv." Robert turned around and faced his former wife. He had faced down the barrel of many guns, been shot countless times and survived bombs on more than a dozen occasions; he was not going to allow himself to be intimidated by the fiery temper of Anna Devane. Hell, it's what he loved about her most. The thought brought an irreverent smile to his face.

"At least you haven't lost your sense of humor," Anna hissed and stalked up to the man who had been her partner in so many different ways before he had faked his death and left her to wander around lost and away from their daughter for almost ten years.

The two trained killers stood glaring at each other, their audience each experiencing this palpable battle of wills from their own perspective – amusement from those who had waited for it, fear or complete confusion for those uninitiated in all things Devane and Scorpio, or just plain curiosity – that was from Nikolas Cassadine to whom a little murder in the family was as common as dinner parties were to others. And often happened at dinner parties.

What they all had in common was that they expected Anna to smack Robert down, figuratively and literally, and to make it really, really hurt.

She looked at him with the fury of a woman scorned, a mother denied her child and the mother of a child denied its parents all on the decision of another flowed in her veins. It fueled her trek to Port Charles once she had confirmation that he had returned. Yet, now, standing face to face with Robert Scorpio those feelings took on another dimension. Not love, because that was always there between them no matter the perfidy or rage. Not relief that Robert indeed had not been killed by Faison. No, that was not the new dimension seeping through her now as she stared into his familiar eyes – this new dimension was about who Anna Devane was at her core.

Anna Devane was a lot of things – a survivor, a fighter, sometimes a traitor, a killer, but she was not and would not allow herself to be a hypocrite. Which is what she would be if she punished Robert too excessively for doing the same things she herself had done and for the same reasons she had done them – to protect Robin.

She had withheld Robin's existence from Robert for the first seven years of Robin's life - all to protect Robin.

She had never told Robin that she had parents for the first seven years of Robin's life – all to protect Robin.

She had not immediately told Robin she was alive once Alex showed up and the pieces were put together – all to protect Robin.

She had stayed away from Robin until the immediate danger had passed – all to protect Robin - and then she had left her to go back to work.

And how many times had Robin actually been in danger because of her parents? So who, Anna wondered, was she to cast stones at Robert for pretending to be dead for fifteen years and never letting them know in any way that he was alive? For not lifting a finger for all the years she had amnesia?

She was Anna Devane, that's who she was.

And she swung and gave him the brutal right hook she had passed on to her daughter.

And he took it, because he knew he deserved that much from her. That much, but not much more. Holding his cheek Robert cocked his head and Anna and asked, "Satisfied now, Luv?" In her eyes he could see the acknowledgement that neither of them would be winning parent of the year awards.

"I'll probably want to kick your ass a bit more later, but right now let's go see about our daughter. Who's Robin's doctor, I want to speak to him or her?" Anna asked Brenda who stood waiting, an amused expression on her face. She adored Anna Devane.

"Depends who you ask, it's either Dr. Brian Weaver or Dr. Patrick Drake." Brenda liked the fact that two reputable and gorgeous neurosurgeons were fighting over her best friend's care.

"Isn't Junior Drake recovering from his own surgery?" Robert asked.

"Yes, but he left his hospital bed to take care of her and he's now ensconced at her side and not looking like he's going anywhere soon," Brenda said and silently nodded in answer to Anna's questioning look.

"Let's go meet the man who gets up off his hospital bed to care for our daughter." She looked at Mac and Robert meaningfully before turning on her heel and following Brenda to her daughter's room.

>>>>>>>>

"You know, you and Dr. Scorpio should just rent out a room here, at the very least three admissions in three months might qualify you both for a volume discount." Nurse Epiphany made her presence known to Dr. Drake.

Patrick rubbed a tired hand over his face. He was due for a pain killer, but he didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to leave Robin's side until she was taken down to CT for another scan, which would be in another half an hour, to see if her own drug therapy was working and fast enough. He turned his head and looked at Nurse Epiphany. "I thought I was the one who got to make the jokes around here?" he said.

"When you're a patient I hold all the cards and you Mister need to get back to your own bed before you cause yourself internal bleeding. Dr. Scorpio isn't up to saving your life on the operating table right now." Nurse Epiphany walked into the room and began checking the machines. It wasn't strictly her job, but she felt rather like a guardian angel to the two doctors who made her job all that much more enjoyable and difficult in turn.

"How's my father doing?" Patrick asked.

"Nagging me about coming down here himself, but since I threatened to give him his next sponge bath instead of Nurse Spencer he's zipped it up." Epiphany tilted her head and looked down at the handsome doctor. "I think you're about due for another one yourself." She winked at him.

"Some new photos might encourage Robin to wake up." Patrick chuckled and then winced.

"That's what I thought." Epiphany handed him a small cup of pills. "Prescription strength ibuprofen. I assumed you wouldn't want to take anything that would really knock you out and let Dr. Weaver sneak in here to care for his patient, but you need something to take the edge off. Not to mention the fact that you need to not be sitting so much, Doctor." She stressed the last word pointedly. She thought it was admirable that he was risking life and limb to take care of Dr. Scorpio, but someone had to take care of him and she was it until the pretty doctor woke up.

Before she could tease him some more into taking better care of himself the room door opened. She caught the worried and determined expressions on the three faces entering, one of which she recognized as the Police Commissioner, and didn't bother trying tell them that there was a one visitor limit.

Patrick recognized Robin's father and uncle, but had never seen the beautiful brunette woman who entered, but he knew right away that it was Robin's mother. Holding a hand to his incision he slowly stood up and reached out to shake everyone's hands. Then Epiphany forced him back into the seat and made sponge-bath motions with her hands in order to keep him sitting after she left the room.

"Patrick, how is she?" Robert asked.

This was something he could answer. "She has a subacute subdural hematoma caused by the blow to the head she suffered in the explosion. Right now we're treating her with a drug combination that Robin herself developed to deal with this type of injury. It's comprised of diuretics to control the brain swelling and other drugs to speed up absorption of the bleed back into the body and even something new Robin herself came up with to stop the bleed. It's a little disturbing that she hasn't regained consciousness on her own before this, but there is nothing to indicate that it's a problem. By her own notes Robin should be waking up within the next six hours and recovered completely within a few days," Patrick rattled off the full condition, treatment and prognosis. "Of course, she'll be back at work two days before that."

"You're saying she'll be all right and that her own treatment is the cause?" Anna asked proudly.

"Yes."

"What is the worst case scenario, Patrick?" Robert asked, surreptitiously moving closer to Anna as he did so.

"If the drugs don't begin to work satisfactorily within the next three hours, depending on the speed of the bleed we'll have to operate. I'll have to drill a hole in her skull over to relieve the pressure. From there we'll give her more drugs, probably including one to prevent seizures." Patrick paused and frowned. He had delivered these details countless times to waiting friends and family. Before they had just been facts he recited full of confidence of his success, but now…he glanced at Robin and unconsciously touched her hand before continuing. "Possible effects of the injury and the surgery are amnesia, attention difficulties, anxieties and headaches. They could be short term or long term. Seizures could even begin to first appear up to twenty-four months after the trauma. For what it's worth I don't think we're dealing with that here."

As Patrick spoke, Anna stepped back right into Robert. He wrapped her in his arms as Anna looked Patrick straight in the eye as he spoke. She liked what she was hearing and seeing from this man who clearly cared about her daughter a great deal. "Robin has an extremely high opinion of you as a doctor." And that was all she needed to know, that Robin was being treated by a man she respected with a treatment she devised.

"As do I," Robert put in.

"Her opinion in such matters is unquestionable. I know my daughter will be all right." With that, Anna walked over to her daughter and bent over her and stroked back her hair and began to whisper to her. "Luv, your mother and father are here together with your Uncle Mac and your hot doctor friend. How about you wake up for us? You don't want to miss the family reunion, do you?"

"She just looks like she's sleeping," Robert said as he moved closer to the bed.

"Essentially she is. She's not in a coma," Patrick said, gingerly moving backwards, intending to leave Robin alone with her family.

Just as he was about to leave she called his name, "Patrick?"


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Gee, everyone assumed "she" meant Robin! Put me in quite a dilemma! Do I go with the unexpected and what I had planned or do I give the readers what they want?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 28  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Essentially she is. She's not in a coma," Patrick said, gingerly moving backwards, intending to leave Robin alone with her family.

Just as he was about to leave she called his name, "Patrick?"

Hearing the panicked note in her voice, Patrick turned around to see Robin's eyes flickering. He was beside her bed in a shot, practically shoving Robert aside. "Robin?" he called her name, softly and looked up at the readings on the monitors. "You call her name," he told Anna.

"Luv, Robin, open your eyes."

Behind Patrick Robert pressed his lips together and stepped back. Mac caught his eye and glared at him. Mac was proving to be a lot less forgiving than his daughter and every misstep Mac perceived in Robert's fatherly behavior was soundly trounced upon and shoved in his face. With an internal sigh at his younger brother's pig-headedness Robert stepped forward again and tried his hand at it. "Robin, it's time to wake up." He looked briefly at his brother and dared him to do better. Mac just rolled his eyes. Robert could see now where Robin got that unfortunate, to Robert since he was on the receiving end of it a lot, habit from.

"Mom?" Robin opened her eyes and smiled when she saw that it was her mother who had been talking to her not just in her dream, but in real life too. Anna gripped her daughter's hand and gave her back a mirroring smile. "What happened?" Robin turned her head, wincing as the knot on her head scraped on the pillow and looked at Patrick and her father hovering on the other side of her.

"What do you remember?" Patrick asked, itching to examine her, but knowing that she'd chew his ass later for not giving the patient a moment to gain her bearings.

Robin closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Sonny's funeral, an explosion, coming to the hospital. AJ!" She opened her eyes and looked at her father with a wry grin. "Sorry, Dad, you're not the last one to come back to life anymore." She rolled her eyes, causing Robert to chuckle and look at his brother. "Emily was killed." Robin bit her lip for a moment. "We came back to the hospital. I was with Brenda and I guess I passed out. I guess the blow to my head caused an intercranial bleed?"

"Very good, Dr. Scorpio." Patrick pulled the light he was carrying around in the pocket of the robe he was wearing instead of a lab coat since technically he himself was still a patient and examined her pupil reactions. "How do you feel, how bad is the pain?"

"Seven on a scale of ten." She struggled to sit up with her mother's help and then turned and looked at her various I.V. bags. Then she looked back at Patrick with a curious expression on her face. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Treating my patient." Patrick chuckled at her attempt to berate him.

Robin crossed her arms and sighed. "You are a bad patient."

"You should talk." Patrick pointed at her accusingly.

"If you're my doctor how come my head isn't split open and it looks like I'm being treated with my own drug combination?" Robin lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, I, uh…" Patrick frowned. He hadn't worked out just how he was going to answer that question when it came.

"Dr. Drake, are you starting to feel compassion for your patients?" Robin teased. "And learning to respect my work?"

"I've always respected your work!" he argued hotly.

"Your clinicals are garbage, by the way." Robin mimicked him pretty well.

"We don't have to worry about loss of memory," he said dryly after she recounted word for word what he had said to her the first time they had met. He smirked as he remembered how informally he had been dressed at the time. His grin widened as she began to blush as she figured out just what amused him, much to the amusement of the other people in the room watching and listening the very interesting banter.

"Don't upset the patient, Dr. Drake." Dr. Brian Weaver said as he came walking in with Brenda at his heels. He saw his patient squirming at the smarmy look on Patrick's face. He didn't know what it was about, but he was sure it was Patrick's fault.

"Oh Robin!" Brenda bounced around everyone to grab Robin's hand. "You scared the hell out of me. Don't do that again!"

"Drake, you should be in a hospital bed. Dr. Scorpio, make him go back to bed."

"I'm fine, Weaver."

"Let's refrain from any betting on this, all right." Robin rolled her eyes. "Can I see my test results please?" she held her hand out to take the file from Dr. Weaver.

"Actually, you're due to go back to CT right now to check that out," Brian said as he handed her the file. She looked through it carefully and nodded.

"Can I have a moment alone with Patrick before we go down?" she asked. Her tone indicating she wouldn't brook any protests from her parental figures. Brian told her she had five minutes before the nurse would come for her.

Patrick sat down on the side of Robin's bed while everyone else filed out. Robin took his hand and studied his face for a moment. "You really should be in bed, Patrick, but thanks for taking care of me."

"You scared the hell out of me, Robin," Patrick said quietly. He gave her a rueful look. "When I saw the explosion on the news and then you…I should have insisted you get checked out when you called. But you should have known something was wrong, Dr. Brain Trauma expert."

"I was about to compliment you on your much improved bedside manner." Robin rolled her eyes and then grinned apologetically at him. "You're right, but it just felt like minor hit, my head didn't even hurt much at all. Thanks for worrying about me."

Before Patrick could say anything else a nurse entered the room to take Robin for her next scan.

"Patrick, please go rest. I'll have someone get us some real food and maybe we could have dinner together?" Robin said from her wheelchair.

"Are you asking me on a date, Dr. Scorpio?" Patrick leaned over her and asked in a husky voice.

Robin just smiled as the nurse wheeled her out.


	29. Chapter 29

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If You're Not the One - 29  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>   
If you're not the one then why does my soul feel glad today?  
If you're not the one then why does my hand fit yours this way?  
If you are not mine then why does your heart return my call  
If you are not mine would I have the strength to stand at all  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"If there's Jell-o in that bag I'm staging a walk out."

"Boy, aren't you a grateful one." Robin walks into the room and puts the bags of food Dillion dropped off for her at a side entrance so she could smuggle them into the Transplant Unit. She made sure to close the door tightly behind her and close the blinds.

"Not that I'm not glad you're here, but according to your own notes your very own treatment requires bed rest." Patrick tilted his head where it lay on the pillow and studied her as she climbed into the sleeping chair and began to unpack their contraband. "How do you feel?"

Robin was facing him in profile and turned her head to look at him. His expression was serious and he was plainly asking her to be honest with him. Robin looked away and sighed.

"Hey?" Patrick reached out and put a finger on her chin and turned her back to face him.

"Everything is progressing fine, I just hate…being sick. My head hurts, these drugs are screwing with my other protocol, which of course I expected, I'm just not sure I really feel like eating." She twiddled the bottle of water she held in her hand nervously.

Patrick swallowed and looked down for a moment. "Why didn't you stay in bed, Robin?" His voice was a husky whisper. Her honesty cut through him. It was all laid out before him - what it felt like for her to live with HIV and just how far into her life she had allowed him. Yet, he still needed to hear more from her, to know that there was no more retreat. At least not for tonight.

"I wanted to see you." She didn't look away, just looked at him her face open and serious.

Despite her pallor, to him she had never looked more beautiful and brave. Without conscious thought he pushed the over-the-bed tray away and clasped her arm and tugged her towards him. Not hard, just enough to let her know what he was offering and giving her the opportunity refuse. But she didn't. With a soft breath she acquiesced to him, letting him guide her onto to the bed and into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

As she slid into sleep against him, Patrick thought of the promise he had made. The promise to tell her he loved her once she awake to hear it. Inside those words there was a whole life that he was beginning to picture in vivid color, his life with her in it. Feeling her breathing against him, trusting him to protect her, he just had to believe it was what she wanted too. To be without her was not an option; but he also knew her well enough to know that her guard could go up at any time. That the feeling of weakness wasn't just something the scared her, but was something that was intimately tied to her need to compensate for the control that being HIV positive had taken from her. He suspected that most of the time it was an automatic response as he had seen her react and then consciously take a step back and respond to situations, to him, with the fire that was her true nature. He could and he would wait it out, but he was afraid that there would be many missteps on both of their parts until there was an equilibrium that would carry them through. Missteps that would hurt them and could cost them dearly. Somehow he would have to gain her trust and her word that she too would persevere through it all. He had to make her see that they were worth it. He had to paint for her the picture that was in his mind. And that would take more than words. That would take action and time.

He closed his eyes and kissed the top of her head and just lie there listening to her breathe and enjoying the unfamiliar weight of her against him.


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: In my world Patrick does not live at the MetroCourt.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 30  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"It's not fair." Robin sighed and looked up at Patrick who was standing over her bed looking smug.

"I really have to disagree." Patrick chuckled and sat down on Robin's hospital bed. He, unlike her was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt – the former a sop to incision that was still paining him rather than any deliberate sartorial choice. "It's your treatment and by your treatment you need at least one more day in the hospital."

"With me in here who's going to make sure that you actually follow doctor's orders and take it easy?" Robin asked.

"One day, you'll be out tomorrow, provided you behave yourself." Patrick leaned forward and brushed the hairs that strayed out of her pony tail behind her ear. "Then you can come stay with me and keep me in line."

"Stay with you?" Robin crossed her arms and looked at him with serious eyes, her lips, though, were curved into an amused smile. She could tell from his expression he had something he thought was charming to say and that they both knew would make her roll her eyes.

"I'm just fresh out of a major, life-threatening surgery. I need someone to take care of me for a while." Patrick hammed it up with a hand to his chest and a hang dog look. "I could do serious damage to myself if left alone. And you know how much you like to restrain me in bed."

"Really?" Robin smiled at him. "I think Epiphany could use the extra cash. You know how she likes giving you sponge baths."

"I still have a free revenge for that one," Patrick said, referring to the photographic sponge bath session she and Epiphany subjected him to. 

"She was just doing her job, Patrick. She's a nurse. You are, were, a patient." Robin shrugged and bat her eyelashes at him. "The photos were for my amusement."

"They'd better be for your amusement only, Scorpio. Although you could make a pretty penny selling them on eBay." She rolled his eyes and he chuckled, then his face turned serious. In truth, he was relieved to finally be released from the hospital, but he was not at all pleased with having to leave while Robin was still under care. He had been considering staying in the on-call room or with Robin, but something about taking doctor's orders like a man had been uttered and now he was hoist by his own petard to do just that. "How are you feeling? How much pain are you in?"

"I feel a bit light-headed from the meds, but I don't have a headache anymore." Robin's expression immediately turned grumpy at the change of conversation. Her medical status was her least favorite subject.

"Good wonder drugs, Scorpio. You're going to put me out of business." Patrick knew that much of her moodiness was due not only to her hating to be sick, but the fact that her system was pumped so full of drugs it was a question which she had more of running through her – drugs or blood. He might be a surgeon, but he knew very well she was probably dragging and expending too much energy trying to keep up appearances for everyone else, as much as for herself.

"Thank you for trusting my work, Patrick." Robin looked at the man in front of her and tried to remember when he wasn't so vital to her.

"You should get some more sleep." Patrick's voice was tender and authoritative at the same time. "You need to be well-rested to serve me my meals in bed."

"It's just an 800- number to call a home health aide." Robin smirked and mimed dialing a phone for emphasis.

"Well, there is this nurse Tina who offered if you're unwilling." Patrick broke off and held up his hands. "Fine, kidding, kidding. I'm staying with Bobbie tonight. Breaking in the room for my father who will apparently be staying there when he gets out." Patrick smiled meaningfully.

"I did see how Bobbie was looking at him when you two got into it the other day. I'll be glad to come stay with you, in the spare room."

"Now, come on." Patrick's voice was husky as he gave her a sexy once over the melted lesser women.

"Give it a rest, Drake. We've barely seen each other outside this hospital, I'm not jumping into bed with you."

"If I recall you've been in my bed, your bed…"

"Hospital beds do not count."

"True, might as well be on a movie set for all the people around." He paused for a moment and sighed. "I've been bullied into following doctor's orders, so I'm doing to the same to you. Get some sleep. I'll give orders to keep everyone out for a few hours." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead and again caressed her hair. "I'll see you later."

"Tomorrow." Robin closed her eyes and sank into the pillow.

Patrick watched her drift off to sleep. His mind whirring a mile a minute as old fears and decisions echoed in his head.


	31. Chapter 31

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One - 31  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Patrick wandered through the living room of Bobbie's apartment in the brownstone. Bobbie was still in the kitchen with Lucas cleaning up from their dinner and had waved away his attempts to help. As he wandered around the room he would periodically stop to look at yet another photo of friends and family. He was looking at one that was sitting on the mantle, it was Felicia marrying the man he guessed to be Tony's brother. It was a group photo that included a young Robin Scorpio. He felt something move in his chest as he looked at her. He frowned and put the photo down.

"That was a very happy day."

Startled, Patrick stepped back from the mantle and faced Bobbie. He shifted uncomfortably. Bobbie had this way of looking at him that made him feel like she could see through him. It was unnerving.

Bobbie walked over and picked up the photo and looked at it. "We were all so happy back then." She put the photo back down. "What has you so on edge tonight, Patrick?" He had been distracted and anxious over dinner. "Are you worried about your father or Robin?"

"I just called the hospital. They're both sleeping, believe it or not." He shared a smile with her about the uncooperative patients.

"Doesn't mean you don't worry not being there to watch over them."

"No, it doesn't." Patrick stood with his hands on his hips and shifted uncomfortably.

"Patrick. If there's something you want to share with me I'm more than happy to listen."

Patrick shifted again; wondering how he could speak past the knot that was lodged in his chest and had been since he watched Robin fall asleep this afternoon. That got tighter as he remembered the hours he spent waiting to see her after the explosion.

He remembered sitting there in bed thinking that she taking too long to show up and he just knew something was wrong. When Brenda and Brandon had walked into his hospital room for a moment he had thought she was dead and he was suddenly right back in the ICU waiting room ten years ago waiting for his parents to come out of the O.R. Neither of them did. He felt as if he was suffocating as he demanded to know what was wrong with Robin.

Once he found out it was a head injury, he jumped into action and became the doctor he was trained to be. He focused on scans, on data, on treatments, even though they the one he had opted to use was not the one he would have normally chosen; which in and of itself was something else that started crashing down on him as he prepared to leave the hospital today. It was as if he was leaving a safe zone and now he was off balance, out of whack and terrified that he was becoming everything that he swore he never would be. Because he couldn't help but wonder who would he be if Robin hadn't made it and imagining what would happen to him the next time she was in danger, which seemed inevitable in this town, or if the virus that lay dormant inside her decided to make itself known. What would happen then?

Or what if Robin was safe and he started connecting with his patients. Started imaginging their pain or their lives and he got distracted in the O.R. Or if he lost a patient he had connected with.

Would he become his father?

Which led him around to the question that had been eating at him since Lucas had driven him to the brownstone and he realized he was spending the night with the one person who could answer it.

"What is it Patrick?"

"I want to know about my father. About what he was like when you knew him."

The question arose inside the hope that maybe if he knew who Noah was he could avoid his failures. That he could make a different choice that wouldn't lead to disaster. Because as confused as he was, he knew that choosing to live without Robin was not a choice he wanted to make. He was looking for something to grasp onto. He would end up with more than he bargained for and just what he needed. At least to start to get where he was destined to go.

"Sit down, Patrick, and I'll do my best." Bobbie leaned back in her chair and smiled fondly as she thought back. It tickled her that she could think back to that time, to Noah with fondness. So much of what happened back then wasn't pretty and the fall out from it – the ongoing troubles with Tiffany Hill Donely, Lucas' biological aunt, had been painful for a long time until it wasn't. But then time had that miraculous way of easing wounds if you let it. The wounds that she could see the young Dr. Drake dealing with were ones that had not yet had time to heal, but he was obviously trying. And since she cared about Robin and Noah and now this young man she was going to help that along.

"Dr. Noah Drake was what we called back then a 'heartthrob'. He was gorgeous, rich, a talented surgeon, son of a prominent Senator and charming as the devil himself. And he knew it and he used it. He charmed everyone he came in contact with. He charmed the hell out of me, but Noah wasn't the settling down type in the beginning."

Bobbie watched Patrick take it in, saw him recognize himself in the description. Was happy to see at least in this he didn't resist just how like his father he was.

"Funny thing, though, is that I think that Noah wanted to settle down. He smiled, but he was searching. He was charming and humorous, but he wasn't happy. Not deep in the gut happy. He and I were pretty serious for a while, more than once. He was also seriously involved with Tiffany Hill."

"The movie actress?" Patrick interrupted in surprise. His mother and father shared a love for B-movies, he wondered if she knew.

"Yes. He went back and forth between the two of us for a while. He had stopped playing around for the most part, but he just couldn't commit to either of us. After that mess between the three of us ended we all found amazing love with other people. Your father with Mattie. He wrote to tell me about her right before he proposed and he apologized for how things went between us and Tiffany told me years later he wrote to her too. He told us that she was his match. But you know that, you grew up in a house filled with love didn't you?"

"Yes." Patrick's voice was barely above a whisper. He could feel the love in his house growing up. He never thought that it should be any other way – a husband, a wife, kids and deep abiding love. He thought that right up to the moment the assisting surgeon came to tell him his mother had died and his father didn't come home for days, leaving Patrick to plan the funeral, to notify friends and family, to pack up her things because his father was never sober enough to do any of it himself. His grandfather, the Senator, did what he could, but he was no substitute for the father Patrick had always looked up to and who was now, in his opinion, defiling his wife's memory.

With every item he packed up he became firmer in his decision that love had no place in his life. That no woman was going to be the ruin of him and that he was going right the wrongs of his father and be the best damn surgeon that Mattie Drake could be proud of.

But would she?

Or would she look at him like Robin had right from the start? Frustrated and disappointed that he refused to connect with his patients, that his priority was building his career and in his spare time building his social calendar and his reputation? That he really did think with his dick.

Patrick didn't notice when Bobbie got up and left him alone to his thoughts.

Who was he really mad at all these years? Who would Mattie have been more disappointed in? Was it his father for falling apart or Patrick for not being the man she had raised him to be?

Patrick stood up and again looked at the photo on the mantle.

That's when he realized the question now was not who his father used to be, the question was who was Patrick Drake going to be?  



	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Thanks for reading this story. I hope it was fun for you all!

**>>>>>>>  
If You're Not the One – Part 32/32  
>>>>>>>> **

Robin threw the kitchen towel onto the counter and put her hands on her hips and glared at the cabinets in a vain attempt to calm her nerves. Oh hell with this! She whirled around. "If you feel that way Patrick I can pack my things right now and go home!" They'd been staying together for a week now and they were driving each other mad. Neither of them were used to staying at home and not working. Neither of them were communicating with each other fully. The combination was making them edgy.

"Dammit, Robin…" Patrick dropped the sponge he was using to wipe down the kitchen table.

"Don't even try it!" Robin stormed out of the kitchen into the dining room. She stormed around the table and into the living room. Patrick was hot on her heels. "I won't let you do this!"

"Do what? God, I don't even know what the hell you're freaking out about this time!" Patrick stalked after her into the living room.

Robin spun around and put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"If you don't like what I'm…"

"I don't even know what…"

"That's because…"

"Stop!" Patrick yelled.

Robin spun around and put her back to the fuming man.

"Robin Anna Scorpio!"

"You have been talking to my mother way too…"

"Because you won't be reasonable!" Patrick stormed up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Reasonable!" Robin spun around and faced Patrick.

"What the hell are we arguing about?" Patrick shook his head, kept his hand on Robin's arm and bit his lip.

"I heard that message!" Robin whispered.

"She left me a message! I didn't call her!" Patrick closed his eyes. "God, Robin. Do you not know by now that I love you?"

Robin froze and her eyes widened. She took a breath and turned back around and faced Patrick. "What? You what?" Her hands clenched and unclenched.

Patrick was just as shocked as she was. Not the sentiment, he'd known for a while that he was in love with Robin, had planned to tell her when she woke up but it never seemed the right time, though never having told a woman he loved her he wouldn't have known the right time if it walked up to him and introduced itself. Which was why he hadn't said it before now. He tilted his head and looked at his shocked and silent girlfriend and thought that maybe this was that right time after all since she was finally not arguing with him.

"I said." He walked up to her and sat down on the edge of the couch and pulled her unresisting body to stand between his thighs. "That I love you." He smiled and let the ball lob into her court.

"You love me?" Robin blinked and was still looking at him like he was an insect under a microscope.

"Yes." Patrick smirked as he waited out her thought process.

"Since when?"

"Probably since the first time I caught you ogling my assets." He teased and looped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I'm being serious, Patrick."

"I know you're trying to be." He dipped his head and pressed his nose against hers. "Now how about you tell me that you love me too?" He knew he was taking a big chance saying something that was tantamount to giving an order. With her temperament she could quite likely refuse to do so just as a matter of pride. He let out a small sigh of relief when he saw her eyes start to sparkle and felt her face transform into a smile.

"I love you, too," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah? Since when?" he asked and bit his bottom lip.

Robin slid her fingers through the back of his hair and pondered the question. "I don't really know when it happened, I just know that you always…"

"Mattered?"

"Yeah, you always mattered. Even when I hated you."

"You never hated me." His smile widened and he pulled her closer. She tilted her head back and he hovered over her lips enticingly.

"I did. I really did. You were a soulless, presumptuous, arrogant jerk."

"Hey, that's the man you love you're talking about." Patrick chuckled.

"Yeah, it is." Robin sighed and pulled his head down the distance required to fit their lips together. They kissed for a few minutes, neither able to get enough of each other, and then Robin pulled back. "This isn't one of those heat of the moment things you're going to regret? I.." Robin pulled out of his embrace and crossed her arms. "You don't regret what you said do you?" Her face was pale.

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that she was exhausting, to blow his stack and stomp off like she had done only moments before. But her fear was a palpable thing between them and since he really did love her he decided to take another tact. "I didn't plan to say it right now, Robin, but I had planned to say it. I just couldn't seem to find the right time. I thought maybe this was it?" He shrugged and stood up and began to walk past her.

"Wait." Robin put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. I'm just going to get something." He put his hand on her hair. "I'll be right back."

Robin hugged herself and stood where he had left her. The moments waiting seemed endless before she heard him coming back down the stairs again.

"Here." She turned her head and saw that he was holding out two white envelopes to her. The same ones he had given her for safe-keeping before his surgery. "Read these."

Robin took the envelopes and looked up at him. "Are you sure? Both of them?" One of them was addressed to Noah.

"Yes." Patrick looked around and decided to leave her alone. "I'll finish cleaning up in the kitchen."

Robin nodded and frowned at the envelopes she held gingerly in her hand. She didn't move until Patrick left the living room. She walked out onto the balcony and closed the door behind her and sat down on a chair and put the letters into her lap. Which one should she open first? She considered whether she wanted to savor her letter for last or whether it would be too intrusive to read Noah's at all, even though Patrick had asked her to. She blew out a breath and opened an envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper three-quarters filled with Patrick's chicken scratch handwriting.

She began to read. She swallowed past a lump in her throat as she read the things that Patrick had written to his father. The father he had risked his own life to save and was writing to in case he himself didn't make it through. He spoke words of forgiveness, about his mother and his love for his father. Most of it, she was surprised to realize she had heard directly from the author himself. It was dawning on her just how deep Patrick had let her go with him. It had seemed like torturous route at the time to get underneath the glib exterior, but at this end it seemed to have happened so quickly and easily. It seemed that he had wanted to have her there. Now, he was outright telling her so. And telling her so much more. It was the last few lines of the letter that loosened the tears from her eyes.

_Don't be angry at Robin for helping me save you, she did it just as much for me as she did for you. She knew that I would not be able to live with myself if I hadn't done all I could to save you, even at the cost of my own life. She more than anyone knows the importance of using the time we have the best way we can. Please take care of her for me. She is the woman I love. She would have been your daughter-in-law. Make sure she gets mom's ring. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home. _

The letter dropped into Robin's lap and she covered her face with her hands and sobbed. She didn't know if she could read the letter written directly to her. Her heart might just explode it was so filled with love, joy and a hundred other emotions it was overwhelming. She took a deep breath, then another and then swiped at the tears on her cheeks and opened her letter, careful to avoid smudging it with her tear soaked fingers.

_Robin, _

_I'll do this quick since you'll be here soon and this is the stuff I'm not ready to say out loud and you're not ready to hear. _

_Things like I love you and I've already gotten my mother's ring from the safe deposit box to give you. I know that would make my mother happy. She__ would have loved you, both for who you are as well as for all you've done for me and my dad. If I believed in such things I'd say she sent you to us. _

_In case you're wondering, I think I've loved you ever since you barged into my OR spitting fire and pretending you weren't ogling me. Yeah, I caught you ;-). So promise me that you will not let my death haunt you. Promise me that you will be happy and that you will open yourself up to life and to love. You deserve it more than anyone I know. _

_Always know that you gave me more life in the short time I've known you than I've ever had before it. I've enjoyed sparring with you, Dr. Scorpio. And I've enjoyed kissing you. Sorry I missed out on the more (which I euphemistically refer to as "payoff"). _

_Robin always know that you have my heart. I guess you had me from "make it quick." Patrick. _

"Robin?" Patrick's hesitant voice permeated the haze caused by the sobs that shook Robin's body. She shook her head, unable to stem the tide of emotions overwhelming her. The letters were swept from her lap and she was pulled into Patrick's embrace. She held on tightly.

"I didn't mean to upset you. Please stop crying. Were they that bad?" Patrick sat down in another chair and cradled her in his lap. "Please stop crying."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"I knew it."

Robin laughed through her tears and sat up straighter. She used the sleeves of her sweatshirt to wipe her face. She then cupped Patrick's face. "I can't believe you wrote all that." Her voice was full of wonder.

"You spooked me with all your worrying. I knew I was going to be fine." He shrugged. The motivation the led him to write the letters a distant memory for him now. "And if you read them before it would have saved me a lot of trouble of trying to figure out how to tell you I love you."

"Did you want me to go get the ring for you too?" She bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes.

"Actually." He dug into the pocket of his jeans. "I've been carrying this around all week. Kept having to stash it around whenever you jumped me."

"Right, I jumped you." Robin rolled her eyes and took the box he handed her into her trembling hands. She looked into his face, asking silently if he really was ready for her to look at it. He reached down and covered her hands with his own and they opened it together. She gasped and covered her lips when she saw the beautiful emerald cut Ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds on a platinum band. She looked back into Patrick's face. Her heart skipped when she saw the utter seriousness in his eyes. Her breath caught.

"Robin, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

A thousand reasons to say no swirled through Robin's mind as she started into Patrick's earnest dark eyes. But her heart said the answer that came from her lips.

"Yes." She grinned and he slid the finger onto her finger as she leaned forward and kissed her fiancé for the first time.


End file.
